Reading the Underland Chronicles 2
by AllyJackson
Summary: A continuation of my first story, Reading the Underland Chronicles. Luxa, Ripred, Mrs. Cormaci, Gregor and his family read Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Underland Chronicles or anyone in the books.**

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><p>After a quick lunch of chicken salad<em>[1]<em> everyone went back into the living room to continue reading. Lizzie picked up the next book: Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, and began to read.

**Part I The Mission**

"Dunh, dunh, dunh!" Mrs. Cormaci said dramatically. She was glad when she saw Gregor smile, as he hadn't in a while.

**When Gregor opened his eyes he had the distinct impression that someone was watching him. He glanced around his tiny bedroom, trying to keep as still as possible. The ceiling was empty. Nothing on his dresser. Then he saw it sitting on the windowsill, motionless except for the delicate twitching of its antennas. A cockroach.**

"**You're just looking for trouble," he said softly to the cockroach. "You want my mom to see you?"**

"You're talking to a cockroach?" Mrs. Cormaci asked Gregor.

"Yeah, so?"

"You do realize that the small ones don't talk." she smiled.

"Um, yeah. I know that,"

"Yeah, sure ya' do."

Both Lizzie and Luxa were in fits of giggles by the end of this exchange.

**The cockroach rubbed it feelers together but made no attempt to run away. Gregor sighed. He reached for an old mayonnaise jar that held his pencils, emptied it on the bed, and in one swift move trapped the cockroach beneath it.**

**He didn't even have to get up to do it. His bedroom wasn't actually a bedroom. Probably it was supposed to be some kind of storage space. Gregor's single bed was wedged into it so, at night, he came in the doorway and crawled straight up to his pillow. On the wall facing the foot of the bed, there was a little alcove with just enough room for a narrow dresser, although you could only open the drawers about eight inches. He had to do his homework sitting cross-legged on his bed with a board on his knees. And there was no door. **

Luxa frowned. She had noticed that the night before when she had (originally) been sleeping in Gregor's 'room'. She supposed this explained Gregor's look of surprise and awe when he had first seen her 'room'. This didn't make her feel any better about it.

**But Gregor wasn't complaining. He had a window that looked out on the street, the ceilings were nice and high, and he had more privacy than anybody else in the apartment. No one came in his room much . . . if you didn't count the roaches.**

"And now royalty," Mrs. Cormaci grinned mockingly at Gregor, trying to keep his mind off Ares.

**What was it with the roaches lately, anyway? They'd always had some in the apartment, but now it seemed like every time he turned around he'd spot one. Not running. Not trying to hide. Just sitting there . . . watching him. **

"They're stalking you Gregor. Watching your every move," Mrs. Cormaci said with a straight face.

"Well, geez. That's not creepy," Gregor rolled his eyes, grinning.

**It was weird. And it was a lot of work trying to keep them alive.**

**This past summer when a giant roach had sacrificed herself to save his two-year-old sister Boots's life miles beneath the city of New York, he'd vowed never to kill another one of the bugs. **

Luxa grinned. She hadn't actually expected him to keep the vow, mostly because at the time they had pretty much hated each other. She was glad he had.

**But if his mom saw them, man, they were goners.**

Grace frowned. '_I wouldn't kill them, now that I know the details of Tick's death. But if they know they can come in and out of this home alive, we'll soon be over-run. But they did save Boots. Maybe I can get here to ask them to leave._'

**It was up to Gregor to get them out of the apartment before her roach radar kicked in. **

"Roach radar?" Grace grinned bemusedly at Gregor.

"Yes, oh wise Maker of the Princess and Most Fearsome Swatter,"

"Oh, shush you,"

**When it was warm out, he'd just trapped them and out them out on the fire escape. But he was afraid the bugs would freeze now that it was December, so lately he'd been trying to stick them as far down in the kitchen trash as he could manage. He thought they'd be happy there.**

"Ah, that explains a lot, actually," Steve smiled. He'd been wondering what all those roaches had been doing on the fire escape.

**Gregor nudged the roach off the sill and up the side of the mayonnaise jar. He crept down the hallway past the bathroom, past the bedroom that Boots, his seven-year-old-sister, Lizzie, and his grandma shared, and into the living room. His mom was gone already. She must've taken the breakfast shift at the coffee shop where she waited tables on weekends. She worked full-time as a dentist's receptionist during the week, but lately they needed every penny.**

_'Dentist and coffee. Oh, and penny. And weekends._' Luxa filed away all these words to ask Gregor about later.

**Gregor's dad lay on the pull-out couch. Even when he was asleep he wasn't still. His fingers twitched and plucked fitfully at his blanket, and he was muttering softly.**

Mrs. Cormaci frowned. Isn't really wasn't fair that the Andrews had to go through all of this.

**His dad. His poor dad . . . **

**After being held prisoner by huge, vicious rats far beneath New York City for over two and a half years, his dad was a wreck. During his stay in the Underland, which was what the inhabitants called it, he'd been starved, deprived of light, and physically abused in ways he would never discuss. He was tormented by nightmares and at times he had trouble separating reality from illusion even when he was awake**_.[2]_** This was worse when he was feverish, which was often, because despite repeated trips to the doctor, he could not shake off a strange illness he'd brought back from the Underland.**

**Before Gregor had fallen after Boots through a grate in the laundry room and helped rescue his dad, he'd always thought that everything would be simple once his family was reunited. It was a thousand times better having his dad back, Gregor knew that. But it was not simple.**

Steve sighed. _'If only I hadn't fallen through in the first place,_'

**Gregor moved quietly into the kitchen and slid the roach into the trash. He set the jar on the counter and noticed it was bare. The fridge held half a carton of milk, a gallon bottle of apple juice with maybe one glassful in it, and a jar of mustard. Gregor braced himself and opened the cabinet. Half a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, and a box of oatmeal.**

Ripred grimaced. That wasn't a whole lot of food. Even for humans.

**He gave the box of oatmeal a shake and exhaled in relief. There was enough food for breakfast and lunch.**

Luxa frowned. No one should have to worry whether or not they would have enough food to last the day.

**And since it was Saturday, Gregor wouldn't even need to eat at home. He'd be going over to help Mrs. Cormaci.**

**Mrs. Cormaci. It was strange how in a few short months she had changed from being their nosy neighbor into a kind of guardian angel. Shortly after Gregor, Boots, and their dad had returned from the Underland, he'd run into her in the hallway.**

"**So, where've you been, Mister?" she asked him. "Besides scaring the whole building to death." Gregor had given her the story his family had agreed upon: On the day he'd disappeared from the laundry room, he'd taken Boots out to the playground to play for a few minutes. They'd run into his dad, who was on his way to see his sick uncle in Virginia and wanted to take the kids with him. Gregor thought his dad had called his mom; his dad thought Gregor had called his mom; it wasn't until they got back that they realized what a crisis they'd caused.**

Ripred started laughing. "That really isn't the best story you could come up with, was it?"

Lizzie sighed. "It was. We were mostly hoping that no one would really ask where Gregor, Boots, and dad had been,"

Luxa frowned. _'If they just came and lived in the Underland, they wouldn't have to live a lie. Everyone knows them. They wouldn't have to worry about money either, being the warrior, princess, code breaker, and their parents._'

"**Hmph," said Mrs. Cormaci, giving him a hard look. "I thought your father was living in California."**

"**He was," said Gregor. "But now he's back with us."**

"**I see," Mrs. Cormaci again. "So, that's your story?"**

**Gregor nodded, knowing it was pretty lame.**

"**Hmph," said Mrs. Cormaci again. "Well, I'd work on that if I were you." And she walked off without another word.**

**Gregor thought she was mad at them, but a few days she'd knocked on the door with a coffee cake. "I brought your father a coffee cake," she said. "It's a welcome-home thing. Is he here?"**

**He hadn't wanted to let her in, but his dad called out in a false, cheerful voice, "Is that Mrs. Cormaci?" and she'd bustled right in with her cake. The sight of his dad - bone thin, white-haired, hunched over on the couch - pulled her up short. If she had planned to interrogate him, she let it go right there.**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled regretfully. She had planned on asking a few questions, but seeing Steve like that . . .

**Instead, she exchanged a few comments about the weather and left.**

**Then, a couple of weeks after school started, his mom came in one evening with some news. "Mrs. Cormaci wants to hire you to help her on Saturdays," she said.**

"**Help her?" Gregor asked warily. "Help her do what?" He didn't want to help Mrs. Cormaci. She'd ask him a bunch of questions and probably want to read his future with her deck of tarot cards and -**

Mrs. Cormaci grinned. She probably would have, if she hadn't seen Gregor's father.

"**I don't know. Help her around her apartment. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. But I thought it might be a nice way for you to make some pocket money," said his mom.**

**And Gregor knew then that he would do it and forget about pocket money, forget about money for movies and comic books and stuff. He'd use the money for his family. Because even though his dad was home, there was no way he could go back to his job as a science teacher. He had only left the apartment a few times, and that was to go to the doctor. The six of them were living on what his mom could make. And with the medical bills, and school supplies, and clothes and food and rent and every other thing you had to have to live, it wasn't stretching far enough.**

Luxa frowned. She had always taken her relatively easy life for granted. Yes, more than once she had been scared for her life, but never before had she been worried that she didn't have enough food, or money, or any other thing, really.

She hated that they had more in common with Ripred, than with her. At least, in the housing and food department.

"**What time does she want me there?" asked Gregor.**

"**She said ten would be good," said his mom.**

**That first Saturday, several months ago, there hadn't been much food in the apartment, either, so Gregor had just gulped down a couple glasses of water and headed over Mrs. Cormaci's. When she opened the door, the rich smell of something amazing hit him, filling his mouth with so much saliva that he had to swallow hard before he said hi.**

"**Oh, good, you came," said Mrs. Cormaci. "Follow me."**

**Feeling awkward, Gregor followed her into her kitchen. A gigantic pot of sauce was bubbling away on the stove. Another pot contained lasagna noodles. Piles of vegetables covered the counter. **

'_Mmm,_' Ripred thought, salivating.

**"There's a fund-raiser tonight at my church and I said I'd bring lasagna. Don't ask me why."**

"So," Ripred grinned at Mrs. Cormaci. "Why'd you bring lasagna?"

Mrs. Cormaci ignored him and gestured Lizzie to continue reading, smiling.

**Mrs. Cormaci dumped several ladles of sauce into a bowl, stuck a big wedge of bread in it, clunked it on the table, and pushed Gregor into a chair before it. "Taste it."**

**Gregor looked at her, unsure.**

"**Taste it! I have to know if it's fit to be served," insisted Mrs. Cormaci.**

**He dipped the bread into the sauce and took a bite. It was so good, his eyes watered. "Boy," he said, when he had swallowed.**

"**You hate it. It's revolting. I should throw the whole pot out and go buy jar sauce from the grocery," said Mrs. Cormaci.**

"**No!" said Gregor, alarmed. "No. It's the best sauce I ever tasted!"**

**Mrs. Cormaci slapped a spoon down beside him. "Then eat it and wash your hands, with soap, because you've got chopping to do."**

**After he'd inhaled the sauce and bread, **

Mrs. Cormaci frowned. If she'd known Gregor had only had a couple glasses of water, she would have given him more to eat.

**she set him to work chopping piles of vegetables that she sautéed in olive oil. He mixed eggs and spices into ricotta cheese. They layered big, flat noodles and cheese and sauce and vegetables into three enormous pans. He helped her wash up, and she declared it was time for lunch.**

**They had tuna salad sandwiches in her dining room while Mrs. Cormaci talked about her three kids, who were all grown and lived in different states, and Mr. Cormaci, who'd passed away five years ago. Gregor vaguely remembered him as a nice man who had given him quarters and, one time, a baseball card. "Not a day goes by that I don't miss him," said Mrs. Cormaci. Then she brought out a pound cake.**

_'Stupid book, it's torturing me!_' Ripred frowned.

**After lunch, Gregor helped her clean out a closet and carried a few boxes down to her storage space. At two o' clock, she said he was done. She had not asked any questions about him except how he liked school. She sent him out the door with forty bucks, a winter coat that had belonged to her daughter when she was little, and a lasagna. When he tried to object, she just said, "I can't take three lasagnas to the fund-raiser. People take two. You walk in with three and everybody thinks you're a big show-off. And what? I'm going to eat it? With my cholesterol? Take it. Eat it. Go. I'll see you next Saturday." And she closed the door in his face.**

Luxa laughed. _'That was sweet, up until the end,_'

**It was too much. All of it. But he could surprise his mom and buy groceries and maybe some light bulbs since three lamps were out in the house. Lizzie needed a coat. And the lasagna . . . Somehow that was the best part of all. Suddenly he wanted to knock on the door and tell Mrs. Cormaci the truth about the Underland and everything that had happened and that he was sorry that he had lied to her. But he couldn't . . . **

**Gregor was jolted out of his memory when Lizzie padded into the kitchen in her pajamas. **

Luxa jumped. She'd forgotten it was only a memory.

**She ****was small for her age, but the look of concern on her face made her look older than seven. "Is there any food for today?" she asked.**

Grace winced. Her children shouldn't have to be asking questions like that.

"**Sure, there's plenty," said Gregor, trying to sound like he hadn't been worried himself. "Look, you guys can have this oatmeal for breakfast, and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. I'll go ahead and make the oatmeal now."**

**Lizzie wasn't allowed to use the stove, but she opened the cabinet with the bowls. She counted out four and then hesitated. "Are you eating breakfast or -?"**

"**Nah, I'm not even hungry this morning," he said, even though his stomach was growling.**

"Liar," Luxa said, lightly punching Gregor in the arm. And though she was smiling, on the inside she was worried.

**"Besides, I'm going over to help Mrs. Cormaci."**

"**Are we going sledding later?" she asked.**

**Gregor nodded. "Uh-huh. I'll take you and Boots over to Central Park. If dad's okay."**

**They had found a plastic snow saucer out by the trash. It had a big crack in it, but their dad had mended it with duct tape. Gregor had been promising to take his sisters sledding all week. But if his dad had a fever, someone needed to stay home with him and their grandma, who spent a lot of her time thinking she was on her family's farm in Virginia. And afternoons were usually when the fever hit.**

"**If he's not, I'll stay home. You can take Boots," said Lizzie.**

**He knew she was dying to go. She was only seven. Why did things have to be so hard for her?**

"You know what? Looking back on it, I'm glad I wasn't able to go." Lizzie said, contemplatively.

**Gregor spent the next few hours helping Mrs. Cormaci make big glass casserole dishes of scalloped potatoes,**_[3]_** polishing her odd collection of antique clocks, and getting her Christmas decorations out of the storage space. When she asked Gregor what he was hoping to get for Christmas, he just shrugged.**_[4]_

**When he left that day, along with the money and a vat of scalloped potatoes, Mrs. Cormaci gave him something wonderful. It was a pair of her son's old work boots. They were a little worn and a little too big, but they were sturdy and waterproof and laced up above his ankles. **

"Oh, so that's where you got those," Luxa exclaimed, having figured out one of life's mysteries.

**The sneakers Gregor was wearing, which were his only pair of shoes, were starting to split at the toe and sometimes, after walking through the slushy streets, his feet would be wet all day at school.**

"**Are you sure he doesn't want these?" said Gregor.**

"**My son? Sure he wants them. He wants them to sit in my closet taking up space so he can come back one a year and say, 'Hey, there's my old boots,' and stuff them back in the closet. If I trip over those boots getting to my iron one more time, I'll disown him. Get them out of here before I throw them out the window!" **

Lizzie giggled. '_Mrs. Cormaci always says the funniest things,_' she thought.

**Mrs. Cormaci said with a wave of contempt at the boots. "I'll see you next Saturday."**

**When he got home, it was clear his dad wasn't feeling well.**

"**You kids go on. Go sledding. I'll be fine here with Grandma," he said, but his teeth were chattering from chills.**

**Boots was dancing around with the plastic saucer on her head. "Go sedding? We go sedding, Ge-go?"**

Now Luxa giggled. She had always loved Boots. She was just the cutest little girl ever.

"**I'll stay," Lizzie whispered to Gregor. "But could you get some of that fever medicine before you go? We ran out yesterday."**

**Gregor considered staying as well, but Boots hardly ever got out, and Lizzie was too young to take her sledding alone.**

**He ran down to the drugstore and bought a bottle of pills that brought down your fever. On the way home he stopped at a table where a man sold used books on the street A few days ago, walking by, he had noticed a paperback puzzle book. It was kind of beat up, but when Gregor flipped through it he saw that only one or two puzzles had been done. The man gave it to him for a buck. Lastly, he picked up a couple of navel oranges, the expensive kind with the really thick skin. Lizzie loved those.**

Mrs. Cormaci filed this away. She needed to send Gregor with some navel oranges next Saurday. That is, if he hadn't found a way back into the Underland.

**Lizzie's little face lit up when he gave her the book. "Oh! Oh, I'll get a pencil!" she said, and ran off. She was nuts about puzzles. Math puzzles, word puzzles, any kind. And even though she was seven, she could do a lot of the ones meant for adults. When she was a tiny kid you'd take her out and see a stop sign and she'd go, "Stop, pots, spot, tops . . ." She'd instantly rearrange all the letters into all the words she could think of. Like she couldn't help it.**

"I can help it," Lizzie blushed. "It's just fun to do."

**When Gregor had told her about the Underland she gave a tiny gasp when he'd mentioned the horrible rat king, Gorger. "Gorger! That's the same as your name, Gregor!" She didn't mean the same name, she meant you could mix around the letters in Gorger and spell Gregor. Who else would notice that?**_[5]_

**So he felt okay when he left her. Their grandma was asleep, his dad had medicine, and Lizzie was curled up in a chair next to him sucking on an orange slice and happily cracking a cryptogram.**

**Boots's excitement was so contagious that Gregor felt happy, too. He'd put on an extra pair of socks and stuffed the toes of his new boots with toilet paper so his feet were warm and snug and dry. His family had enough scalloped potatoes at home for a small army. **

'_He would know how much a small army would eat, wouldn't he?_' Grace frowned.

**A light snow was gently spinning down around them, and they were going sledding. For the moment, things were okay.**

**They rode the subway to Central Park, where there was a great sledding hill. Lots of people were there, some with fancy sleds, some with beat-up old saucers. One guy was just sliding down on a bug trash bag. Boots squealed in delight every time they went down the hill and as soon as they slid to a stop, she shouted, "More, Ge-go. More!" They sledded until the light began to fade. Near an exit to the street, Gregor stopped for a while to let Boots play. He leaned against a tree while she fascinated herself by making footprints in the snow.**_[6]_

**The park felt like Christmas with all the sledding and the pine trees and the funny, lumpy snowmen that kids had built. Big, shimmery stars hung from the lampposts. People walked by with shopping bags that sported reindeer and poinsettia. Gregor should have felt cheerful, but instead, Christmas made him feel anxious.**

_'Christmas, reindeer, poinsettia. Oh, and also lampposts and snowmen._'

**His family didn't have any money. It didn't matter so much for him. He was eleven. **

Grace frowned. Even at eleven, Christmas should still be magical to Gregor. A time of family, not worry.

**But Boots and Lizzie were little, and it should be fun, it should be magical, with a Christmas tree and presents and stockings on the coat hooks (which is where they hung theirs because they didn't have a chimney) **

Luxa laughed. "That sounds like my cousin Chim's name!"

Gregor looked at her for a moment then cracked up.

"Am I missing something here?" Mrs. Cormaci wondered aloud.

"I think we all are," Ripred answered.

"I suppose will find out in one of these books," Grace sighed, glacing warily at the two laughing children.

**and nice things to eat.**

**Gregor had been trying to save some money out of what Mrs. Cormaci gave him, but it always seemed to go for something else, like fever medicine or milk or diapers. Boots could really go through a lot of diapers. She probably needed one now, but he hadn't brought any, so they had to get going.**

"**Boots!" Gregor called. "Time to go!" He looked around the park and saw that the lamps that lined the paths had come on. Daylight was almost gone. "Boots! Let's go!" he said. He stepped out from the trees, turned in a circle, and felt a jolt of alarm.**

**In the brief time he'd been thinking, Boots had vanished.**

Grace groaned.

Mrs. Comaci started laughing. "Ya' know, Gregor, if you got your head outta' the clouds and kept your thoughts on your sister, you might lose her less often,"

Gregor smiled back at her sheepishly, as Ripred took the book and began to read.

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><p><strong>I'm back! Miss me? Nah, just kidding. On with the story!<strong>

**[1] A specialty of my mom's.**

**[2] Peeta, anyone?**

**[3] Yummy! That sounds so good! I only get scalloped potatoes once a year, 'round Christmas time. :(**

**[4] Every time I read that, I get 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' stuck in my head. Every time.**

**[5] I did. I cracked up when Lizzie spotted that and Gregor thought 'Who else would notice that?' **

**[6] Ha, Boots is as easily entertained as I am!**

**Oh, and Mrs. Cormaci's talking so much 'cause she's trying to keep Gregor's spirits up.**

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><p><strong>This chapter was edited 0806/2011. Thanks for your reviews so I was able to fix my mistakes.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:No I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone in the books.**

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><p>"<strong>Boots!" Gregor was beginning to panic. She'd been right here a minute ago. Hadn't she? Or had he been so busy thinking, he'd lost track of how much time had passed? "Boots!"<strong>

"Ya' know Gregor, you're a really bad babysitter," Mrs. Cormaci stated casually.

"Yeah, I know," Gregor frowned slightly.

**Where could she have gone? Into the trees? Out onto the street?**_[1]_** What if someone had taken her? "Boots!"**

**There wasn't even anyone around to ask. The park had emptied out as dark had fallen. Struggling to stay calm, Gregor tried to follow the trail of footprints that she'd been making in the snow. But there were so many footprints! And he could barely see!**

**Suddenly he heard a dog barking nearby. Maybe it had found Boots, or at least its owner might have seen her. Gregor ran through the tress to a small clearing somewhat illuminate by a nearby light. A feisty little terrier was running in a circle around a stick, barking its head off. Intermittently it would grab the stick in its jaws, give it a good shake, and drop it on the ground. Then it would begin its frantic barking again.**

**A pretty woman, **

Luxa scowled slightly, but relaxed when Gregor pulled her back into his lap, kissing her on the cheek.

**dressed in winter jogging clothes, appeared. "Petey! Petey! What are you doing?" She scooped up the dog and shook her head at Gregor as she walked off. "Sorry, he goes a little crazy sometimes."**

**But Gregor didn't respond. He was staring at the stick, or what he'd thought was a stick, that had been driving the dog wild. It was smooth and shiny and black. He picked it up and it bent in two. Not like a broken stick. But like a leg. An insect leg.**

"Ew!" Lizzie squeaked in disgust.

** From a giant roach . . .**

"Temp! Temp's a big bug!" Boots squealed in delight.

**His head whipped around the area. When they had returned from the Underland that summer, they had come up through a series of tunnels that led to Central Park. They had been near the street, just as he was now.**

**There, on the ground. That big slab of rock. It had been moved recently – he could tell by the marks in the snow – and then moved back into place. Something red was trapped under the edge of the rock. He pulled it out. It was Boots's mitten.**

**The giant roaches from the Underland had idolized Boots. They'd called her the princess and done some special ritual dance to honor her. And now they'd kidnapped her tight out from under his nose.**

"**Boots . . . ," he said softly. But he knew she couldn't hear him at this point.**

**He pulled out his cell phone.**

Luxa added this word to her ever-lengthening list of words. '_Cell phone. Remember to ask Gregor about it,_'

** They couldn't afford a cell phone, but after three members of her family had mysteriously disappeared, his mother had insisted they get one, anyway. He dialed home. His dad answered.**

"**Dad? It's Gregor. Look, something happened. Something bad. I'm in Central Park, near that place where we came up this summer, and the roaches, you know, the giant ones? They were here and they took Boots. I wasn't watching her close enough, it's my fault and . . . I have to go back down!" Gregor knew he had to hurry.**

"Geez, no, 'Hello, how are you doing?'" Mrs. Cormaci smiled. "No it's just, 'Dad something terrible's happened!'"

"**But . . . Gregor . . ." His dad's voice was full of confusion and fear. "You can't –"**

"**I have to, Dad. Or we might not ever see her again. **

"Wow, Gregor. Way to keep everyone calm," Mrs. Cormaci snickered.

**You know how crazy the roaches are about her. Look, don't let Mom call the police this time. There's nothing they can do. If I'm not back right away, tell people we've got the flu or something, okay?"**

"**Listen, stay there. I'm coming with you. I'll be there as quick as I can," said his dad. Gregor could hear him panting as he tried to struggle to his feet.**

"**No, Dad! No, you'd never make it. **

"You're so dramatic, Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes.

"It was true, though," Lizzie looked down sadly.

**You can't even walk down the block!" said Gregor.**

"**But I . . . but I can't let you . . ." He could hear his dad beginning to cry.**

"**Don't worry. I'll be okay. I mean, I've been down there before. But I got to go, Dad, or they'll get too far." Gregor puffed as he struggled to slide away the slab of rock.**

"**Gregor? You have any light?" asked his dad.**

"**No!" said Gregor. This was a real problem. "Wait, yes! Yes!" Mrs. Cormaci had given him a mini flashlight in case the lights ever went out when he was on the subway.**

"I told you you'd need it," Mrs. Cormaci smirked at Gregor. "Am I ever wrong?"

"No," Gregor smiled back at her while thinking, '_Why is that? It's like she knew why I would need it. But that's impossible since she didn't even know about the Underland then,_'

** He had clipped it to his key ring. "I've got a flashlight. Dad, I've got to go now."**

"**I know, son. Gregor . . . I love you." His dad's voice was shaking. "Be careful, okay?"**

"**I will be. Love you, too. I'll see you soon, okay?" said Gregor.**

"**See you soon," his dad whispered hoarsely.**

**And then Gregor lowered himself down into the hole. He stuck the phone in one pocket and pulled out his key ring from another. When he clicked on the little flashlight, he was surprised by the amount of light it produced. He slid the rock slab closed and started down a long, steep flight of steps.**

**As he got to the bottom he stopped and closed his eyes for a minute, trying to re-create in his head the path that had brought him here last summer. They had been flying then, on the back of a big black bat named Ares, who was his bond.**

Gregor tensed. Thinking about Ares was painful, but he was also remembering the argument he'd had with Ares. '_It must be coming up soon,_' he thought.

** In the Underland, a human and a bat could take a vow and swear always to protect each other no matter how desperate the situation. Then the two were called bonds.**

**Ares had flown Gregor, Boots, and his dad back from the Underland and left them at the foot of the stairs and headed off to the . . . right! Gregor was pretty sure it had been the right, so he started running that way.**

**The tunnel was cold and dank and desolate. It had been made by people – regular people, not the violet-eyed, pale Underlanders he had met deep in the earth – but Gregor felt sure that it had been forgotten by New Yorkers long ago.**

**His flashlight beam caught a mouse, and it skittered away in terror. Light didn't come down here. People didn't come down here. What was **_**he **_**doing down here?**

"**I can't believe it," thought Gregor. "I can't believe I have to go back down - **_**there**_**!" Back into the strange dark land of giant roaches and spiders and, worst of all, rats! **

"Oh, surely we rats are not all that bad?" Ripred smirked._[2] _

Gregor frowned, thinking of Twitchtip.

Luxa laughed. "No, Ripred. It is just you,"

**The thought of seeing one of those six-foot sneering, fanged creatures **

"Oh, look, Ripred. He managed to describe you perfectly," Luxa laughed at the rat.

Ripred just rolled his eyes at her and continued reading.

**filled him with dread.**

**Boy, his mom was not going to like this.**

"No," Mrs. Cormaci grinned. "I do believe that this may upset her just a bit."

_'Just a bit,_' Grace thought, rolling her eyes.

**Last summer, when they'd finally come home late one night, she'd freaked out. First her two missing kids show up with their missing dad, who can barely walk, and then they all sit down and tell her some bizarre story about a land miles under the earth.**

"I suppose when you put it like that, our world and your adventures within do seem pretty unbelievable," Luxa admitted absentmindedly, resting her head on Gregor's chest.

**Gregor could tell she didn't believe them at first. Well, who would? But it was Boots's chatter that she couldn't ignore.**

"**Beeg bugs, Mama! I like beeg bugs! We go ride!" Boots had said, happily bouncing on her mother's lap. "I ride bat. Ge-go ride bat."**

"**Did you see a rat, baby?" her mom said softly.**

"**Rat bad,"**

"Hey!" Ripred said. "The only rat she had seen thus far was me!"

Luxa and Gregor glanced at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Yes," Mrs. Cormaci agreed with a straight face. "Rat very bad." Then she too succumbed to laughter.

** Boots said with a frown. And Gregor remembered this was the exact phase he had heard the roaches use to describe the rats. They were bad. Very bad. Well, most of them . . .**

**They'd told the story three times, under intense questioning from his mom. They'd showed her their strange Underland clothing oven by the huge spiders that lived there. Then there was his dad, white-haired, shaking, emaciated.**

**At dawn, she'd decided to believe them. **

"And when, exactly, did you get home?" Luxa questioned.

"Some time around midnight, I guess," Gregor told her.

"Wow, Grace," Mrs. Cormaci whistled, impressed. "You sure took a long time to believe them."

"I suppose I believed them before then," Grace looked down. "I just didn't want to."

**At one minute after dawn, she was down in the laundry room nailing, screwing, gluing, doing everything she could to seal shut the grate they'd all fallen through. She and Gregor shoved a dryer closer to it. Not enough so it would draw a lot of attention. But enough so that no one could get back there and open it up.**

"It didn't stop them from going back, though," Grace mumbled to herself.

**Then she put the laundry room off-limits. No one was allowed down there, ever. So, once a week Gregor helped her haul the laundry three blocks to use a Laundromat.**

_'A Laundromat,_' Luxa thought, adding yet another word to her growing list of words she did not know.

**But his mom hadn't thought about this entrance in Central Park. And neither had he. Until now.**

**The tunnel came to a fork. He hesitated a minute, and then headed off to the left, hoping it was the right direction. As he jogged along, the tunnel began to change. The bricks left off, and natural stone walls took over.**

**Gregor went down one last flight of steps. This one was carved out of natural stone. It looked really old. He guessed it must have been made by the Underlanders hundreds of years earlier, when they'd begun their descent to make a new world deep in the earth.**

**The tunnels began to twist and turn, and soon Gregor lost his bearings. What if he was just getting totally lost in some maze of tunnels while the roaches carried Boots off in a completely different direction? What is he'd taken a wrong turn back at the stairs . . . what if . . . no, there! His flashlight landed on a spot of red on the ground, and Gregor picked up Boots's second mitten. She could never hold on to them. Luckily.**

**As Gregor sprinted off, he began to notice a crunching sound under his feet. Shining the flashlight onto the floor, he realized it was covered with a variety of small insects **

"Oh, gross! You were stepping all over those poor bugs!" Lizzie cried, disgusted.

**scurrying down the tunnel as fast as they could.**

**As he stopped to investigate the situation, something skittered over his boot. A mouse.**

Mrs. Cormaci pretended to faint with horror. "Not a mouse! Anything but a mouse!" She cried with sarcastic fear.

** There were dozens running past him. And there by the wall – hadn't he just seen some kind of molelike animal go by? The whole floor was alive with creatures headed in Gregor's direction in a big, creepy stampede. They weren't trying to eat one another. They weren't fighting. They were just running, the way he had seen animals on the news one time running from a forest fire. They were afraid of something. But of what?**

**Gregor shot the beam of his flashlight behind him and there was his answer. About fifty yards away, galloping toward him, were two rats. The Underland kind.**

"Oh, geez, Gregor. How do you get into these messes?" Grace asked her son, exasperated. She would've been more worried, but she knew her son how goe unscathed from this incounter.

"I honestly don't know," he sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, another update! I'm so cool! Jk.<strong>

**[1] Once my family couldn't find my five-year-old sister. We finally found her playing in the street. We still don't know how she got outside.**

**[2] Lol. Credit goes to Scar from the Lion King.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within the books.**

* * *

><p>Mrs. Cormaci took the book from Ripred and began to read.<p>

**Gregor turned on his heel and ran. "Oh, geez!" he gasped. "What are they doing here?" Cockroaches had taken Boots. He'd seen one of their legs. But what were Underland rats doing so close to the surface of the earth?**

**Well, that was something to figure out later, because he had bigger issues at the moment. **

"Nah, Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci laughed. "You need to sit down and have a nice conversation with these rats. Ya' know, 'Hi, I'm Gregor, who are you? So, what brings you down here?'"

Gregor rolled his eyes at her and she continued to read.

**The rats were gaining on him, and gaining on him fast. He tried to think of a plan, but nothing came to mind. He couldn't outrun them; he couldn't outclimb them; and he sure couldn't outfight them **

"Ah, this was before you found out you were a ra-" Ripred started, only to find himself being glared at by Luxa and Gregor.

"Shut up, Ripred!" Gregor growled, glancing at his parents.

"Gregor, what's he talking about? Before you knew you were a what?" Grace asked her son, concerned.

"Um, well - I," Gregor stammered.

"I am sure it will be in the book, Ms. Andrews," Luxa came to his rescue.

Grace still looked concerned, but decided to let it go.

**with their six-inch teeth and razor-sharp claws and -**

"**Ugh!"**

"What?" Grace shrieked, worried for her son.

"It was nothing, Mom. I'm fine," Gregor reassured her.

**He ran smack into the side of something hard. It caught him stomach high, knocking the wind out of him. He dropped the flashlight, but as it fell into empty space, Gregor recognized the circular stone opening that Ares **

Gregor winced, thinking of the 'misunderstanding' he'd had with Ares.

**had squeezed through to bring them home. Somewhere far, far below lay a massive Underland ocean. The Waterway.**

**Without thinking, Gregor swung his leg over the side of the circle and lowered himself down inside. His fingers clung to the edge as his legs swung free. "Maybe the rats won't see me inside here," he thought, and immediately the stupidity of what he'd done hit him. The rats didn't need to **_**see **_**anything. The rats navigated by their incredible sense of smell. So what might have been a really decent hiding place if you were being chased by people was utterly worthless if you were trying to lose rats.**

"Not just utterly worthless," said Ripred. "It traps you in one place. It's deadly."

Grace gulped. '_Oh, geez. That's just what I needed to hear!_'

**Yep, and here they were. He could hear their claws screeching to a halt on the stone, then their panting, and then their confusion.**

"**What's he doing?" growled one.**

"**No idea," said the second.**

**For a few moments, Gregor could hear nothing but the pounding of his own heart. Then the second voice sputtered, "Oh, oh, you don't suppose he's hiding, do you?"**

**And that's when they started laughing. It was a nasty, raspy laugh.**

"**Come out, come out, wherever you are!" said the first voice, and the rats cracked up again. **

Lizzie shuddered. '_They're playing with him! That's just sick._' she thought.

**Gregor couldn't see them, but he felt pretty sure they were rolling around on the ground.**

**He had two choices. Climb back out and face the rats in pitch blackness, or drop into the darkness below and hope against hope that some Underlander scout found him before he drowned or became something's dinner.**

**He was trying to weigh the odds of surviving. Either way they were very low. Either way the likelihood of finding Boots and bringing her home was -**

"**Drop, Overlander," purred a voice. **

Gregor flinched and looked down. '_It must be in this chapter,_' he realized.

Luxa looked at him in concern, but when he said nothing, she turned back to Mrs. Cormaci.

**For a second he thought it was the rats, but it couldn't be because they were still laughing and, anyway, it didn't sound like them. It sounded like -**

"**Drop, Overlander," said the voice again, and this time the rats heard it, too. He could sense them springing to their feet.**

"**Kill him!" snarled the first, and as its hot, ratty breath hit his fingers,**

"Oh, very original, Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes. "The rats have ratty breath. Never would have thought of that."

Gregor did the mature thing. He stuck his tongue out at her.

**Gregor stopped weighing his odds and let go.**

Grace immediately tensed up, remembering the last time Gregor had been falling through the air.

**He could hear the scrape of claws on the stone ledge he had been clinging to moments before, along with a volley of strange rat curses.**

**Then the sickening sense of free-falling through space consumed him. He had fallen like this twice before, once when he'd gone down the grate in his laundry room after Boots, and once when he'd leaped into a huge void when he was trying to save his dad and sister and friends. "This," he thought. "is something I'm never going to get used to."**

**Where was Ares? **

Instantly, Grace relaxed. Ares would save Gregor.

Only Luxa, with her arms around him, noticed Gregor tensing up.

**That was Ares's voice he'd heard, wasn't it? For a second Gregor thought he'd imagined hearing the bat, but then he remembered the rats had reacted to the sound, too.**

"**Ares!" he called out. The darkness absorbed his voice like a towel. "Ares!"**

"**Ooph!" Gregor said, more in surprise than anything, because suddenly the bat was under him and he was riding, not falling, through the darkness.**

"**Man, am I glad you showed up!" said Gregor, his hands clinging to the thick fur on Ares's neck.**

"**I am glad you are here also, Overlander," said Ares. "I am sorry you had to fall this far. I know this causes you discomfort, but I was retrieving your light stick."**

"That was sweet of him," Grace smiled.

'_Yeah, and I was just awful to him,_' Gregor thought.

"**My light stick?" said Gregor.**

"**Behind you," said Ares.**

**Gregor turned around and saw a faint glow behind him. He picked up his mini flashlight that had been shining into the fur on Ares's back. "Thanks!" The light calmed him down a little.**

'_But not enough, unfortunately,_' Gregor thought with self-disgust.

"**Man, you'll never guess what happened! Those cockroaches came up in the park and took Boots! They just stole her right out from under my nose!" And suddenly Gregor was really mad at the roaches.**

'_And I let that anger out on Ares,_' he thought with regret.

"**I mean, what were they thinking? Did they think I wouldn't notice?"**

**Ares veered off to the right and began to fly over a ridge along one side of the Waterway. "No, Overlander, they -"**

"**Well, did they think I wouldn't care? Like it would be okay just to grab her and run and I'd be, like, 'Oh, well, guess I won't be seeing Boots around.'"**

"**They did not think that," said Ares.**

"**Did they think I wouldn't come get her? And they'd just be able to keep her and do their little dances around her and sing 'Patty Cake' and -" said Gregor.**

"Man, I really need to just shut-up," Gregor mumbled to himself.

"**The crawlers knew you would follow," Ares slipped in, before Gregor lost it.**

"**Of course, I followed! And man, when I get hold of those bugs, they'd better have some really good explanations for this whole thing. How far are we from their place?" said Gregor.**

"**Several hours. But I am taking you to Regalia," said Ares.**

"**Regalia? I don't want to go to Regalia!" said Gregor. "You take me to the roaches, and you take me there now!" ordered Gregor.**_[1]_

'_I hate myself, I really do,_' Gregor thought as his family and Mrs. Cormaci glanced at him in surprise.

'_I always thought that Ares and Gregor got along,_' Lizzie was shocked that her brother would act like that to Ares.

Luxa wasn't surprised because she had known about this argument. She was disgusted with Gregor's words, as he himself seemed to be, but not surprised.

Ripred was not surprised because he had sensed the self-disgust in Gregor and guessed something like this was coming up. Also, it was only a matter of time before the two had an argument. After all, they'd barely gotten to know each other the last time Gregor had been in the Underland.

_**Thwack!**_

Lizzie squeaked in surprise.

**Gregor landed flat on his back. Ares had flipped him over onto the stone ridge. Before he could speak, the bat was on his chest, his claws digging deep into his down jacket.**

**Ares's face was just inches from Gregor's. The bat's gums were pulled back over his teeth in a snarl. "I do not take orders from you, Overlander. Let us be clear on this from the start. I do not take orders from you!"**

Mrs. Cormaci nodded. '_I knew I liked this bat for some reason,_' she smirked to herself.

"**Whoa!" said Gregor, startled by Ares's intensity. "What's your problem?"**

"What's _his_ problem?" Mrs. Cormaci fumed quietly to herself. "What's _his _problem? I can't believe Gregor, the nerve of him!"

"**My problem is that at this moment, you are reminding me a great deal of Henry," said Ares.**

Luxa drew in a sharp breath. Aurora had told her about the argument, or what she's heard about it from Ares. She had never been told that Ares had compared Gregor to her cousin. Either Ares had not told Aurora, or Aurora had not told her, for obvious reasons.

**This was really the first time Gregor had ever gotten a good look at Ares's face. The light in the Underland was usually dim. And Ares was particularly hard to see because of his uniform blackness, black eyes, black nose, black mouth set in his black fur. But in the direct beam of the flashlight, he could see the bat was furious.**

**Ares had saved his life. Gregor had kept Ares from banishment, which would have meant certain death. They were bonded together and had sworn to fight to the death for each other. But they had never exchanged more than a handful of words. As Ares glared down at him, Gregor realized he knew next to nothing about the bat.**

"**Henry?" said Gregor, because he couldn't think of anything else to say.**

"**Yes, Henry. My old bond. You remember, I let him smash to his death on the rocks so that I could give you more time," **

Luxa closed her eyes tightly, trying not to think of Henry. All this time and it was still painful. She was starting to think that it may have been Aurora who had withheld information.

**Ares said almost sarcastically. "And right now I am wondering if I should not have let you both fall**

Grace gasped. She was upset with her son for acting the way he was, but to imply that he should have died!

** because, like Henry, you are under the impression that I am your servant."**

"**No, I'm not!" objected Gregor." Look, we don't even have servants where I come from. I just wanted to go get my sister!"**

"**And I am trying to reunite you with your sister as quickly as I can. But, like Henry, you do not listen to me," said Ares.**

**Gregor had to admit this was true. He'd kept talking right over Ares every time the bat had tried to speak. But he didn't like being compared with Henry. He was nothing like that traitor. Still, maybe he **_**had **_**been out of line.**

Gregor was disgusted with himself. He had realized that he had been out of line, and still snapped at Ares right afterward!

"**Okay, I'm sorry. I was mad and I should have listened to you. Now get off my chest," said Gregor.**

"**Get off my chest, what?" said Ares.**

"**Get off my chest now!" said Gregor, getting angry again.**

Grace frowned. She had raised her son with better manners than this!

"**Try again," said Ares. "Because to me this sounds very much like an order."**

**Gregor gritted his teeth and suppressed an impulse to push the bat off. "Get - off - my - chest **_**please**_**."**

**Ares considered the request for a moment, decided it was satisfactory, and fluttered off to the side.**

**Gregor sat up and rubbed his chest. He was unharmed, but there were several deep holes in his jacket where Ares's claws had pierced the fabric.**

"**Hey! Can you watch those claws? Look what you did to my jacket!" said Gregor.**

Gregor flinched. '_Why can't I just shut-up?_'

"**It is of no matter. They will burn it, anyway," Ares said indifferently.**

**It was at that moment that Gregor decided he was bonded to a big jerk. And he felt pretty sure that Ares had come to the same conclusion.**

"I was wrong, he was right," Gregor whispered to himself.

Luxa heard him and glanced at him. She whispered to him, "You're not _that _big of a jerk,"

"Gee, thanks Luxa,"

"You are most welcome," she giggled.

"**Okay," Gregor said coldly. "So, we have to go to Regalia. Why?"**

"**That is where the crawlers are taking your sister," said Ares, matching Gregor's tone.**

"**And why would the crawlers want to take my sister to Regalia?" asked Gregor.**

"**Because," said Ares. "the rats have sworn to kill her."**

Grace inhaled sharply as Mrs. Cormaci read those words.

* * *

><p><strong>Two chapters in one day, woohoo!<strong>

**[1] Man, every time I read that, I want to slap Gregor senseless. It disgusted me just writing it! I hated Gregor then, I really did.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Mrs. Cormaci handed the book over to Luxa and she began to read.<p>

"**Kill her? But why?" asked Gregor, stunned.**

'_Yes,_' Grace thought desperately. '_What would they gain from killing my baby girl?_'**  
><strong>

"**It is foretold by 'The Prophecy of Bane,'" said Ares.**

"**The Prophecy of Bane." Gregor remembered it now. When he had left the Underland the first time, he had told Luxa he would never come back, and she had said, "That is not what it says in 'The Prophecy of Bane.'" And then he'd tried to ask Vikus about it, but the old man had been evasive and hustled him onto his bat **

"Hustled you?" Mrs. Cormaci asked. "Gregor, I think you're being too kind to Vikus. You were picked up and placed on top of Ares and then Ares was told to leave."

Luxa giggled. "She is right, you know,"**  
><strong>

**and given the command to leave. So, Gregor didn't know what it meant, but the first prophecy in which he'd been mentioned had resulted in the deaths of four members of a twelve-party quest and had triggered a war that had killed countless others.**

**A feeling of dread swept over him. "What does it say, Ares?"**

"**Ask Vikus," Ares said shortly. "I am tired of being interrupted."**

Mrs. Cormaci snorted. She was still upset that Gregor had spoken to Ares like that. He was a good bat, and deserved better.**  
><strong>

**He climbed on Ares's back, and they flew back to Regalia without exchanging another word. Gregor was angry with Ares but even angrier with himself for placing his family in jeopardy again. Yes, Luxa had mentioned "The Prophecy of Bane." It was just that once he and his mom had blocked that grate in the laundry room, Gregor had put the idea of returning to the Underland out of his mind. "Avoid the laundry room, avoid the Underland," he'd reasoned. **

Luxa frowned. She hated that Gregor had once wanted to avoid the Underland. Then she flinched, remembering their argument during their 'picnic'.

Gregor felt her flinch and looked at her questioningly, but she avoided his eyes by placing her head on his chest.**  
><strong>

**But how could he have taken Boots to Central Park? He knew about the entrance there! He knew there was a second prophecy! It had been foolish to think it would be safe.**

**When they reached the beautiful stone city, it was so quiet that Gregor thought it must be nighttime here. Well, nighttime was relative, since the Underland had no sun or moon, no day or night, like the Overland. But Gregor figured it must be the time when most of the city was asleep.**

**Ares headed for the palace and made a smooth landing in the High Hall, the big, ceiling-less room that could accommodate the arrival of many bats.**

**Standing patiently, all alone, was Vikus. The old man looked exactly as Gregor remembered him, his silver hair and beard trimmed very short, his violet eyes in a web of wrinkles that was mostly noticeable when he smiled. He was smiling now, as Gregor dismounted.**

Ripred snorted. "The man's almost always smiling, 'seeing the best in people'. What did you expect?"**  
><strong>

"**Hey, Vikus," said Gregor.**

"**Ah, Gregor the Overlander! Ares has found you. I thought it would be best to seek you in the passage from your laundry room, but he insisted on scouting the Waterway. I ascertain that, as bonds, you already think alike," said Vikus.**

Mrs. Cormaci whistled. Then she laughed, "If only he knew,"**  
><strong>

**Neither Ares nor Gregor responded. Since they weren't actually speaking to each other, it seemed stupid to act like they had some special mental link.**

**Vikus glanced from one to the other and then continued. "So . . . welcome! You look well. And your family?"**

"**Fine, thanks. Where's Boots?" said Gregor. He liked Vikus, but this whole situation with the roaches kidnapping Boots and the threat from the prophecy killed his mood for small talk.**

"**Ah, the crawlers should arrive with her shortly. Mareth led a party to meet them, and I could not dissuade Luxa from joining.**

"Aw, you like Boots more than me?" Gregor pouted.

"Of course I do, Gregor. She's so much . . . smarter than you," Luxa laughed. Both children looked to Boots where she was sniffing her feet and singing "Ten tiny toes,"

Gregor looked questioningly at Luxa and she blushed. "Well, she's cuter, anyway,"**  
><strong>

** By now, Ares has, of course, explained our predicament to you," said Vikus.**

Mrs. Cormaci chuckled. "Oh, yes, in complete detail. There was diagrams and everything!"**  
><strong>

"**Not really," said Gregor.**

Mrs. Cormaci sighed. "'Course, you're answer works too,"**  
><strong>

**Vikus looked at each of them again, but neither Gregor nor Ares elaborated.**

"**Well, then. To begin with, we should examine together 'The Prophecy of Bane.' Perhaps you remember, when you were departing the Underland, I made some small mention of it," said Vikus.**

"He said nothing!" Luxa exclaimed. "I am the one who made a mention of it!"**  
><strong>

"**Very small," Gregor muttered. What he remembered was that Vikus had rushed him off and told him absolutely nothing.**

"See!"**  
><strong>

"**Let us proceed to Sandwich's room now. Ares, you will attend as well, please," Vikus said, and headed off into the palace.**

**Gregor followed him with Ares fluttering along behind.**

**Vikus did not resume the conversation until they'd reached a solid wooden door. He pulled a key from his cloak and turned it in the lock. The door swung open. "You will find it on your right," he said, and motioned for Gregor to enter ahead of him.**

**Gregor pulled a torch from a holder by the door and walked in to the room. It was entirely covered in tiny words carved into the stone walls in the 1600s by the founder of Regalia, Bartholomew of Sandwich. The words formed prophecies, visions of Sandwich's, that the Underlanders lived and died by. The first time Gregor had been in the room, that wall facing the door had been illuminated with a small oil lamp. That was where Sandwich had carved "The Prophecy of Grey." Now that area was in shadow. The lamp had been moved to the wall on his right. Above it was what looked like a poem. This must be it. "The Prophecy of Bane."**

"Nah, Gregor. That was the Prophecy of . . . _Brains_," Mrs. Cormaci said dramatically.**  
><strong>

**Gregor lifted his torch to get a clearer view and began to read:**

_**IF UNDER FELL, IF OVER LEAPED,**_

_**IF LIFE WAS DEATH, IF DEATH LIFE REAPED,**_

_**SOMETHING RISES FROM THE GLOOM**_

_**TO MAKE THE UNDERLAND A TOMB.**_

"Well, that's downright cheerful," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes._**  
><strong>_

_**HEAR IT SCRATCHING DOWN BELOW,**_

_**RAT OF LONG-FORGOTTEN SNOW,**_

_**EVIL CLOAKED IN COAT OF WHITE**_

_**WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?**_

"Yes," Gregor mumbled to himself. "But not yet. And at a very high cost."_**  
><strong>_

_**WHAT COULD TURN THE WARRIOR WEAK?**_

_**WHAT DO BURNING GNAWERS SEEK?**_

_**JUST A BARELY SPEAKING PUP**_

_**WHO HOLDS THE LAND OF UNDER UP.**_

"Hold on," Mrs. Cormaci said. "You've faced giant roaches, spiders, rats, bats, and you jumped off a cliff, and a _baby _could turn you weak?"

"Yep," Gregor nodded, thinking back to when he first saw Pearlpelt._**  
><strong>_

_**DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,**_

_**DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART.**_

_**DIE THE PEACE THAT RULES THE HOUR.**_

_**GNAWERS HAVE THEIR KEY TO POWER.**_

"What does that mean?" Grace asked.

"That if the 'baby' dies, so does Gregor's heart," Lizzie answered. "His most essential part."_**  
><strong>_

**Gregor didn't know what it meant any more than he had understood "The Prophecy of Gray." But his mind snagged on one phrase that chilled him to the bone: Die the baby . . . Die the baby . . . Die the baby . . . Boots . . .**

"No," Grace whispered, shaking her head frantically. "Not Boots."**  
><strong>

**"Okay, I want to go through this whole thing. Right here, right now," said Gregor.**

**Vikus nodded. "Yes, I think it is wise we dissect the prophecy immediately. It is not as cryptic as the first, but there are things you must know. Shall we begin at the beginning?" **

"That's normally where you start, yes?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.**  
><strong>

**He moved to the prophecy and brushed his fingers over the first two lines. "You have fresh eyes, whereas I have read this thousands of times. Tell me, Gregor, what make you of this?"**

**Gregor looked at the lines more closely this time . . .**

_**IF UNDER FELL, IF OVER LEAPED,**_

_**IF LIFE WAS DEATH, IF DEATH LIFE REAPED,**_

**. . . and realized he did know what they meant. "It's about me and Henry. I'm the Over, I leaped. Henry's the Under, he fell. I lived, and he died."**

Luxa winced, turning her face into Gregor's chest.**  
><strong>

**"Yes, and King Gorger and his rats also died, reaping much life in the Underland," said Vikus.**

**"Hey, how come you didn't tell me about this before? Then maybe I would have known what was coming!" said Gregor.**

**"No, Gregor, it is clear only in hindsight. 'Under' could have referred not only to Henry, but to any other Underland creature, or the Underland itself. 'Over' could have been your father. Your leap may not have been a literal leap but a mental or spiritual leap. Henry's fall might have alluded to any variety of physical deaths, not to mention a fall from power or honor.**

"Try both," Mrs. Cormaci spat bitterly.

**In truth, a human Underlander literally falling to his death was not a popular interpretation. Henry never would have suspected he would die in such a way," said Vikus.**

**"Why not?" asked Gregor.**

**Vikus glanced at Ares and hesitated.**

**"Because he would have expected me to catch him," Ares said bluntly.**

"Ouch," Mrs. Cormaci said, remembering Gregor's argument with the bat and Ares saying that he should've just let them both fall.**  
><strong>

**"Yes," said Vikus. "So, you see that the first prophecy was indeed gray to us, although now, of course, it seems as clear as water. Shall we go on?"**

**Gregor read the next bit to himself.**

_**SOMETHING RISES FROM THE GLOOM**_

_**TO MAKE THE UNDERLAND A TOMB.**_

**"So, something bad is coming. Something deadly," said Gregor.**

"No, Gregor. That's too obvious," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes. "It has to be the big, fluffy Easter Bunny!"

"But it's a _rat,_"

"Fine. It's the big, fluffy Easter Rat,"

'_Easter Bunny? Remember to ask Gregor about that,_' Luxa thought.**  
><strong>

**"Not just coming. It is here, and has been here for some time.**

"No, the Easter Rat is here! Hide your candy!" Mrs. Cormaci yelled.**  
><strong>

** Only the rats have concealed it, even from their own. You will find more about it in the next stanza," Vikus said, gesturing to the next four lines.**

_**HEAR IT SCRATCHING DOWN BELOW,**_

_**RAT OF LONG-FORGOTTEN SNOW,**_

_**EVIL CLOAKED IN COAT OF WHITE**_

_**WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?**_

**Gregor studied the lines for a minute. "It's a rat. A white rat?"**

"No, the rat's pink. That's why the prophecy compares it to 'long-forgotten snow'," Mrs. Cormaci snorted**.  
><strong>

**"The color of long-forgotten snow, for we do not get snow in the Underland. Although I imagine it to be very beautiful," Vikus said a bit wistfully.**

"It is," Lizzie sighed happily. She loved the snow.**  
><strong>

**"It is," said Gregor. "There's snow everywhere right now. It makes everything look better." It did, too, when it had just fallen. It covered up the dirt and the trash, and for a while the city looked clean and fresh. And then it turned to slush. "So, this white rat . . . ?"**

**"It is the stuff of legends. Even when he lived in the Overland, Sandwich knew tales of the white rat. Historically, one will appear every few centuries, gather other rats about it, and create a reign of terror. It is remarkable in cunning, **

Mrs. Cormaci scoffed. "_Cunning_? Not from what I've heard,"**  
><strong>

**strength, and size," said Vikus.**

**"Size?" said Gregor. "You mean it's even bigger than the other rats down here?"**

**"Considerably so," said Vikus. "As legend has it. And at this point in time, the only thing that stands between this creature and the Underland is you. The warrior. You are a threat to it. That is why the white rat has been so carefully concealed. The rats do not want you to find it. But you also have a vulnerability."**

**Vikus tapped the third stanza, and Gregor read on.**

_**WHAT COULD TURN THE WARRIOR WEAK?**_

_**WHAT DO BURNING GNAWERS SEEK?**_

_**JUST A BARELY SPEAKING PUP**_

_**WHO HOLDS THE LAND OF UNDER UP.**_

**"Do you know what is meant by 'pup'?" asked Vikus.**

**"Ripred called Luxa and Henry pups once, when they wouldn't obey him," said Gregor. And suddenly he wondered how much the large, scarred rat who had helped save his father knew about all this.**

**"He undoubtedly said it sarcastically, and to remind them he was in charge.**

Luxa frowned, annoyed.**  
><strong>

** For, to rats, a 'pup' is a baby. The only baby we know of who is close to you is Boots," said Vikus.**

Now Lizzie frowned. "Nowhere was it said that the baby had to be close to Gregor. Only that it would turn him weak. Almost any baby could do that,"

"Gee, thanks sis,"**  
><strong>

**Gregor felt his eyes pulled to the last stanza of the prophecy.**

_**DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,**_

_**DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART.**_

_**DIE THE PEACE THAT RULES THE HOUR.**_

_**GNAWERS HAVE THEIR KEY TO POWER.**_

**"So, they think that if they" - Gregor could hardly say it - "kill Boots, something will happen to me."**

'_Something _did _happen to me,_' Gregor thought. '_And they didn't even kill her._'**  
><strong>

**"It will break you somehow,"**

Grace frowned. She remembered Gregor telling her that he had thought for a time that Boots was dead. '_He never told us how he reacted. I suppose we'll find out,_'**  
><strong>

** said Vikus. "And if that happens, the rats will overtake the rest of us."**

**"No pressure or anything," Gregor said, but he felt very scared. "You're sure it's Boots?"**

**"As sure as we may dare to be. Your closeness to her is well known. That you sacrificed yourself, that you leaped rather than let King Gorger kill her - this made a great impression on everyone. Can you think of another baby it could be, Gregor?" Vikus asked solemnly.**

**Gregor shook his head. It was Boots. And they were right about one thing: If they killed her, something in him would break. "So, why did you bring her down here? Why didn't you just leave her in the Overland, where she was safe?"**

**"Because she was not safe. And neither were you. The crawlers watch you night and day, to protect you," said Vikus.**

"See? I told you they were stalkers," Mrs. Cormaci said, exasperatedly.

Boots giggled. "Little bugs like you, Gregor!"

"That's nice," Gregor said, then added, "I'm officially creeped out now."

**The roach he had trapped in the mayonnaise jar that morning flashed before his eyes. "You mean the little ones?"**

**"Yes, they are in communication with the larger ones below. But the rats watch you as well.**

"Stalkers!" This from Mrs. Cormaci.

**They have been tracking your family's movements since shortly after you left the Underland, waiting for a chance to take your sister's life," said Vikus.**

Grace shuddered.

**"It was not possible in your home. But today you ventured out with her very near one of the gateways."**

**"We went sledding in Central Park," said Gregor.**

**Then Ares spoke up. "The Overlander was chased in the tunnels by gnawers. He had to drop into the Waterway to escape them."**

**"Then the crawlers must have rescued Boots just in time. She was the rats' target today, Gregor," said Vikus.**

Grace groaned. With Gregor telling her the story, it had never really gotten through to her how close she'd come to losing Boots. But now . . .**  
><strong>

**"Why not just kill me?" Gregor asked numbly.**

Luxa stiffened in Gregor's arms. '_Why did he say that? That's an awful way to think!_'**  
><strong>

**"They would have been happy to. But they have seen you leap and live to tell of it, so they are less confident in such a goal," answered Vikus. "And at the moment they are more concerned with the prophecy. It is by killing Boots that they mean to destroy you."**

Gregor wondered how everyone would react to his reaction to Boots's "death". No one in this room, he realized with a start, had been with him after Boots had gone missing.

**"I still think we would be safer in the Overland. We just won't go to Central Park. We'll keep Boots inside . . ." But Gregor wasn't really sure it would be safer.**

**"I will send you back directly, if that is what you wish. But they will find her, Gregor, now that they are set on it. In their minds, it is a race. They must kill Boots before the white rat is killed. Only one may survive. Believe it or not, we brought her to the Underland to protect her," said Vikus.**

**"And to protect yourselves," Gregor said flatly.**

**"Yes. And to protect ourselves," said Vikus. **

"Well, at least he's honest about it," Mrs Cormaci grinned.**  
><strong>

**"But as our destinies are intertwined, it seemed one and the same thing. So, what will it be? Shall we take you home, or will you play out your hand with us?"**

**Gregor thought about the scraping sounds he sometimes heard in the walls of their apartment. They made his mom nervous even though his dad said it was probably just mice. But what if it was rats? And what if they were just a few inches of plaster away, watching Boots? Watching and waiting and reporting to the giant rats below.**

"Stalkers . . ." Mrs. Cormaci whispered loudly.**  
><strong>

**There was a skittering sound at the door. Gregor looked over to see Boots riding in the door on the back of a giant roach with a bent antenna.**

**"Ge-go!" She giggled. "I ride! Temp take Boots ride!"**

**She was so happy . . . and tiny . . . and powerless . . .**

"I dunno' Gregor. She's got a pretty powerful voice," Ripred laughed, remembering when they had thought Boots would break the code.

"Oh, yes," Luxa added. "And the spinners loved her."

"About as much as they loved Gregor's root beer," Mrs. Cormaci snorted.

**he couldn't watch her twenty-four hours a day . . . he had to go to school . . . and there was no one else to protect her . . . even he had been worthless today . . . if it happened again, the rats could kill her in a New York minute. Not even.**

**"We're staying," said Gregor. "We're staying until this thing is over." **

Grace sighed. She just wished that no one in her family had fallen down to the Underland to begin with.

* * *

><p><strong>Another chapter! None of my lovely little comments in this one. Off to do the next one!<strong>

**Oh, and updates will most likely be slower now because I start school tomorrow.  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

* * *

><p>Luxa slid out of Gregor's lap, (much to his disappointment) so he could read, and handed him the book.<strong><br>**

"**Go, Ge-go!" Boots told Temp, tapping her heels on the roach's shell, and he obediently carried her over to Gregor. She slid off and ran over and hugged his leg.**

"**Hey, Boots," he said, ruffling her curls. "Where've you been?"**

"**I go ride! Fast! Fast ride!" she said.**

"**Do you remember Vikus?" Gregor asked, gesturing to him.**

"**Hi! Hi, you!" Boots said happily.**

Gregor grinned remembering all the times she had said that on their trip.**  
><strong>

"**Welcome, Boots," said Vikus. "We have missed you."**

"**Hi, bat!" Boots said, waving to Ares, although Gregor had been ignoring him.**

"**Hey, Temp," Gregor said to the cockroach. "Next time, do you think you could tell me before you run off with Boots? You freaked me out."**

"**Hates us, the Overlander, hates us?" asked Temp.**

**Oh, great, now he'd hurt the roach's feelings. They were so thin-skinned. Well, thin-shelled. "No, I don't hate you, come on. It just scared me when you took Boots. I didn't know where she was," said Gregor.**

"**With us, she was, with us," said Temp, confused now.**

"**Yeah, I know that. Now. But I didn't know that in the park," said Gregor. "I was worried."**

"**Hates us, the Overlander, hates us?" repeated Temp.**

"Ugh. You're just going in circles with this guy!" Mrs. Cormaci groaned.**  
><strong>

"**No! I just need you to tell me if you're going to take her somewhere," said Gregor. Temp's antennas drooped noticeably. This was going nowhere fast. He shifted gears. "But, Temp? Thanks a lot for getting Boots away from the rats. You did a good job."**

**Temp perked up. "Rat bad," he said with conviction.**

Ripred opened his mouth, about to protest that not all rats were bad when Gregor beat him to it.

"No," he said. "Some rats are good. Like Twitchtip."

The poor kid looked so upset that Ripred decided not to protest the fact that he and Lapblood had not been mentioned.

"**Yeah," Gregor agreed. "Rat very bad."**

**At that moment, Luxa appeared in the doorway. Her silvery blond hair had grown out a little, she was a bit taller, but it was the lilac circles under those violet eyes that caught Gregor's attention.**

"Oh," Luxa blushed. "You noticed that."

"'Course I did," Gregor smiled at her.**  
><strong>

**He wasn't the only one who'd been having a rough time lately.**

"**Welcome, Gregor the Overlander," said Luxa, approaching him but not touching him.**

Luxa kissed Gregor lightly on the cheek. "There, is that better?"

Gregor smiled at her and nodded. "It'll have to do for now,"

"**Hey, Luxa, how are you doing?" asked Gregor.**

**Her hand reached up distractedly and gave a quick nudge to the gold band around her head. Almost like she wanted to shove it off.**

"I did," Luxa sighed. '_Still do,_' she added mentally.**  
><strong>

**"Fine, I am fine."**

**She wasn't fine. Clearly the girl hadn't been sleeping well. She did not look happy. But she still had that arrogant tilt to her head, that half smile. She still stood like a queen. "So, you have come back after all."**

"**Didn't have much choice," said Gregor.**

"**No," said Luxa stonily. "You and I never seem to have much choice. Are you hungry?"**

"**I hungry! I hungry!" said Boots.**

"**We missed dinner," Gregor said, although his stomach was too knotted up to feel hungry.**

"**You need to bathe and dine and then sleep. Solovet says you must begin training on the morrow," said Luxa.**

"Oh goody," Ripred said. "We get to hear about the blood ball incident."

"B-blood balls?" Lizzie squeaked.

"It is not real blood Lizzie. It is only meant to mimic the look," Luxa reassured the younger girl.

"**Says she so?" Vikus asked, sounding a bit surprised.**

"**Yes. Did she not tell you?" said Luxa, giving Vikus a mocking look to which he did not respond. They had a funny relationship. Vikus was her grandfather but, since her parents had been killed by rats, he was also the closest thing she had to a father. And he was supervising and training Luxa to take on the full responsibilities of being queen of Regalia when she reached sixteen. Gregor thought it must be complicated for them, being so many things to each other.**

"**I will see you on the field, Gregor, Ares," Luxa said, and left.**

**Gregor and Boots were taken to the bathroom by a couple of Underlanders he'd never met. The young woman took Boots into the locker room for girls, while a guy escorted Gregor to his side.**

**He caused a scene by running out of the bathroom, dripping wet, with just a towel around him,**_[1]_

Luxa blushed a deep red, but no one noticed.**  
><strong>

**to ask the guy nor to burn their clothes. Ares was right, turning their clothes to ashes was standard, but Gregor knew it would cost a lot to replace them. And he really didn't want to lose his boots.**

"**But . . . your clothes carry much scent. The gnawers will know you are here," the guy said uncertainly.**

"**Oh, that's okay. I mean, they already know I'm here. Two of them chased me to the Waterway," said Gregor. "So, could you just . . . I don't know, maybe you could put them in the museum or something. That's all Overlander stuff, right?"**

**Relieved at the suggestion, the guy went off to ask Vikus.**

**They were fed a big meal: beef stew, bread, mushrooms, those things that reminded Gregor of sweet potatoes but weren't,**

"You mean the yams, Gregor?" laughed Luxa.

"Yeah, those things,"

**and some kind of cake. Boots ate with gusto, which reminded him she'd had little more than a bowl of oatmeal and a peanut butter sandwich that day. At least the rest of his family would have the scalloped potatoes for dinner. If anyone could eat.**

**Oh, this whole thing was his fault!**

Grace glanced at her son in concern. He had a tendency to blame himself for things that were out of his control. Like this for example.**  
><strong>

**If only he'd kept an eye on Boots, the roaches would never have run off with her. But then, the rats could have reached her first. He guessed he ought to feel grateful to everybody here for rescuing her, and he did, on one level. But on another, he resented them for dragging him back into their troubled world. What was it Vikus had said? ". . . as our destinies are intertwined, blah, blah, blah, blah." He wanted no part of it, but here he was. Again.**

**Boots conked out the minute her head hit the pillow, but Gregor felt restless and anxious. He couldn't sleep thinking about his family, the threat to Boots, and the looming presence of some giant white rat out there somewhere, waiting for him. He finally gave up and decided to take a walk around the palace. It should be fine; he wasn't trying to escape or anything this time.**

"Sure, sure," Mrs. Cormaci narrowed her eyes, grinning. "That's what they all say."

**The doorways he passed seemed to lead to people's living quarters. The common rooms, like the High Hall or the dining rooms, were open. But on Gregor's floor, curtains blocked most of the rooms from view. Stone doors must not have been practical, and the only wooden door he'd ever seen in the Underland led to the room filled with Sandwich's prophecies.**

**Gregor had been walking about ten minutes when he heard voices coming from one of the rooms. They were somewhat muffled by the curtain, but still audible because the people were arguing. It was Vikus. . . .**

"**You should have told me about the training. I should have had a say in it!"**

**And who was he talking to?**

"Solovet," Lizzie answered immediately.

"How do you know?" Steve asked her.

"Well, earlier Luxa said that Solovet had said he was to start training. And Vikus is arguing about the training. It must be her,"

Luxa smiled. '_Vikus would like Lizzie. She's really smart,_'

"**Yes, yes, we could have gone round and round while you tried to think of some way to protect him, but it is not possible. No matter what you want."**

**It sounded like Solovet.**

Luxa grinned at the younger girl, impressed.**  
><strong>

**She was Vikus's wife, Luxa's grandmother, and the head of Regalia's military. Usually she spoke in a gentle, stately voice. But Gregor had heard her barking orders in combat. Solovet's ability to swing between gracious lady and soldier unnerved him because he never knew which one to expect. She sounded more like the soldier now.**

**Gregor didn't want to eavesdrop, so he turned to slip away. But then he heard his name and couldn't help listening.**

"Gregor," Grace groaned.**  
><strong>

"**And what of what Gregor wants? Does he have no say in this? He pushed away the sword, Solovet. He does not wish to fight," said Vikus.**

"**None of us wish to fight, Vikus," said Solovet.**

Mrs. Cormaci snorted as Ripred said, "Oh, I beg to differ,"**  
><strong>

**Vikus made a sound like "Hm," which suggested he thought maybe somebody in the room enjoyed fighting.**

"**None of us wish to fight," Solovet repeated in a steely voice, "but we all do.**

"My uncle did not," Luxa muttered to herself.**  
><strong>

**And the prophecy calls Gregor 'the warrior,' after all. Not 'the peacemaker.'"**

Ripred rolled his eyes. "I still fight, though,"

Mrs. Cormaci glanced at him confused.**  
><strong>

"**Oh, the prophecies are often misleading. He is called a warrior, but perhaps his weapons are not the ones we are familiar with. He did very well last time with no common weapon," said Vikus. "I am telling you he pushed away Sandwich's sword!"**

"**Yes, when he was safe and he thought everything was over. But I remember he asked for a sword on the quest," shot back Solovet.**

"**But he had no need of it. He was better off without it, I think," said Vikus.**

Grace nodded fervently.**  
><strong>

"**And I think that if you send him out unarmed this time, you guarantee his death," said Solovet.**

**Then there was silence.**

**Gregor retreated from the doorway as quickly as possible and somehow made it back to his room.**

**The little sleep he had that night was filled with disturbing dreams.**

Gregor handed the book to his mother and Luxa instantly climbed back into his lap.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>[1] Bet Luxa wished she coulda' seen that. ;)<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or the people within.**

* * *

><p>Grace frowned slightly at the couple next to her, but did nothing about it.<p>

**The next morning Gregor was exhausted and in a bad mood. Another Underlander he'd never met served him breakfast. He left Boots under the care of the woman who'd bathed her the night before, and headed out. Today, he was supposed to start his training. Whatever that was.**

**After walking down a few halls, Gregor realized he had no idea where to go. Luxa had mentioned something about a field. Did she mean that sports arena? It was the first thing he had seen in Regalia, the large stone oval where the Underlanders played some kind of ball game on bats. It was a twenty-minute hike from the palace.**

**Gregor eventually made his way to an exit flanked by two guards. Outside the doorway was a platform attached by ropes. When he asked the guards if they would lower him to the ground, they reacted with surprise. "Did not your flier arrange to meet you in the High Hall to carry you to training?" said one.**

**Ares and Gregor had parted ways the previous night without exchanging a single word. "No, Ares must have forgotten," he said.**

"**Ah, yes, Ares," the guard said, and gave his partner a significant look.**

**Although Gregor was angry with Ares, he didn't like what it implied. "I forgot, too," he said. "I should have reminded him."**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. Ares deserved every bit of respect he got.

**The guards nodded and made way for him to step onto the platform, which they then lowered the two hundred feet to the ground. Although the passage was smooth and uneventful, Gregor clutched the ropes tensely. The Underland provided endless opportunities to renew his fear of heights.**_[1]_

**The city was bustling with pale-skinned, violet-eyed inhabitants going about their business. A lot of people stared at him, but if he caught** **their eye they gave him a respectful nod. A few even bowed. They knew him, or at least of him. He was the warrior who had saved their city from destruction. He actually enjoyed the attention for a while, and then he realized that they were probably thinking about how he had to go after that giant white rat. He wondered how many soldiers they would send with him to kill it. Something that big, that vicious . . . it might take a whole army!**

"Yet it only took one skinny, little boy," Ripred said.

"And the skinny, little boy's bat," Gregor whispered to himself.

**When he arrived at the arena, it was clear that he was late. Groups of Underlanders of all ages were spread around the moss-covered ground doing various kinds of stretches and calisthenics. It didn't seem all that different from how they warmed up in track practice. As he looked for Luxa, a voice caught his attention:**

"**Overlander! You are back!" And before he knew it, Mareth had him in a rib-crushing hug. The soldier was one of his favorite Underlanders.**

"**Hey, Mareth," he said. "How's it going?"**

"**Very well, now that you are here. Come, you are to do general training with me," Mareth said, pointing Gregor toward a bunch of kids his own age.**

**As they jogged across the field, they passed a group of children drilling with swords. None of them looked more than six years old. Apparently it was never too soon to start training for war in the Underland.**

Grace frowned. '_They have six-year olds practicing? But . . . that's younger than Lizzie! That's too young! It's absurd!_'

**Gregor spotted Luxa and took a place near her. They only had time for a nod before the class was back in session.**

**Mareth led them through a series of stretches. Gregor wasn't naturally limber. But Luxa could twist herself around like a pretzel.**

'_Ah, a word to remember. Pretzel. I do hope he meant it as a compliment,_' thought Luxa.

**Then there were some strengthening exercises, pretty standard push-ups, sit-ups, leg lifts. Finally, they ran laps around the arena. Gregor loved to run both sprints and distance. He felt satisfaction that he was the only one in the group able to keep pace with Mareth, who congratulated him at the end.**

**The glow from Mareth's praise quickly evaporated as they moved on to tumbling.**

"And you took the word 'tumbling' much to literally," Luxa laughed.

**They had gymnastics every year in gym class, and it was just something Gregor lived through until basketball **

'_There is another word. Basketball,_' Luxa thought.

**started. Her was too tall and lanky for it and seemed to end most moves by falling flat on his back. **

"Sure, blame your height," Mrs. Cormaci snickered.

**Which is what he did now.**

Mrs. Cormaci, Ripred and Luxa all snorted.

**Luxa stood over him, trying not to laugh. "When you roll, you cannot unbend your knees until your feet are on the ground," she said, offering him a hand up.**

"**Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, letting her pull him up. Gymnasts were always giving you helpful tips like you could actually win the battle with gravity if you just concentrated hard enough.**

"You can if you _try _hard enough," Luxa giggled.

**Mareth called for her to demonstrate a trick, and off she went into some amazing run of twisty flippy things, **

"Twisty flippy things?" Luxa asked, amused.

"Yes," Gregor confirmed. "Twisty flippy things."

**landing on her feet as easily as Gregor would hop off a curb. The other Underlanders broke into spontaneous applause, and Luxa gave them one of her rare smiles. Then she came back and tried the hopeless task of teaching Gregor a cartwheel.**

**While she was explaining the mechanics for about the eighteenth time, "Hand, hand, foot, foot, not two hands then both feet," something caught her eye, and her face fell.**

**Gregor followed her gaze to the entrance of the arena, where a group of five kids was standing. He hadn't seen them before. "Who's that?"**

"**My cousins. They must have arrived in Regalia," Luxa said stiffly.**

'_Cousins. I remember there was Nerissa and Henry. This must be Howard's family. Oh, I hope they're as nice as him!_' Lizzie thought.

**Gregor looked at the group in surprise. "I thought your only cousins were Henry and, what's her name, the nervous girl?"**

"**Nerissa," said Luxa. "Yes, Nerissa and . . . Henry." The name cost her some effort to say. "They are the only royal cousins I have ever had. Our fathers were brothers, sons of a king, and of the royal family."**

**The cousins at the entrance spotted Luxa and began to head over. She nodded at them with obvious dislike. "These five I am related to on my mother's side. They are not of royal blood, although they greatly desire to be so,"**

"Stellovet especially," Gregor muttered angrily.

"**Not crazy about them, huh?" said Gregor.**

"**They make fun of Nerissa. Of her gift and her frailty," said Luxa. "No, we do not . . . that is, I do not like them."**

Lizzie winced, frowning sympathetically at Luxa.

**Gregor tell that she and Henry had been "we" for so long that even months after his death she had trouble thinking of herself apart from him. This was, of course, complicated by the fact that he had utterly betrayed her to the rats in order to gain power himself. If you thought about it, it was no wonder Luxa had those lilac circles under her eyes.**

"**They are only here on a visit from the Fount. Hopefully it will be a short one," said Luxa.**

**Luxa and her cousins exchanged brief, formal greetings, and then she introduced Gregor to them. The oldest, Howard, was probably about sixteen and looked like he worked out a lot. There was a girl named Stellovet, maybe thirteen or so, who had flowing, silvery blond curls and was strikingly pretty.**

Luxa frowned. Gregor hadn't described her as strikingly pretty. He'd said she had pretty eyes, but not that she was strikingly pretty.

**Next in line was a pair of younger twins, a girl named Hero and a boy called Kent. Lastly, there was a little girl, maybe five or so, clinging to Stellovet's hand. Her name sounded like the word "chimney," but he didn't think he'd gotten that that right.**

Gregor started laughing and Luxa giggled hesitantly, still thinking about Stellovet.

"Ah," Mrs. Cormaci said, remembering the first chapter. "This all makes sense now." And then she too started laughing, Lizzie and Ripred joinging in.

**They had trouble taking their eyes off Gregor. He was probably the first Overlander they'd ever seen.**

"Or," Ripred said. "Could it possibly be that you are the Warrior?"

"**Greetings, Gregor the Overlander. We have heard much of your deeds and are grateful for your return,****" Howard said, civilly enough.**

"**No problem," Gregor said, although his return was very problematic.**

"**Oh," said Stellovet, her voice dripping with honey, **

Lizzie shuddered. She hated kids like that. They always thought they were better than you.

**"we were so glad you were there to defend Luxa on the quest."**

"**Uh-huh. Well, I'd have been rat meat about three times if it wasn't for Luxa, so I guess it evens out," said Gregor.**

**Stellovet's eyes narrowed, but she gave him a sweet smile. "Yes, Luxa is something of an expert on rats. No matter how many legs they have."**

Lizzie and her parents gasped. Mrs. Cormaci narrowed her eyes and started mumbling things that, thus far, she had saved for Henry.

Gregor felt Luxa tense up and hugged her close, kissing her forehead.

**It was a horrible thing to say. It was clear she meant Henry. Gregor knew kids like that, kids who would take something really awful in your life and use it against you. And there was nothing you could say about it because the thing was true. He felt a deep and instant dislike of Stellovet.**

Luxa finally relaxed about Stellovet. 'Stikingly pretty' she may be, but she had never found herself in the arms of the Warrior. She snuggled close to Gregor, resting her head under his chin.

**To his credit, Howard seemed embarrassed. Stellovet and the twins were smirking. The little girl, Chimney or whatever her name was, was wide-eyed and confused. Gregor didn't have to look at Luxa to know the pain that must be registering on her face.**

**Gregor stared at Stellovet for a moment and then said casually, "So, were are you guys from?"**

"Didn't Luxa already tell you that?" Mrs. Cormaci turned questioningly to Gregor.

"Yes," Gregor smirked. "But I'm getting Stellovet back for hurting Luxa."

Mrs. Cormaci snickered. "I like the way you think,"

"**We live at the Fount. Our father is in charge there," Stellovet said with pride.**

"**You get a lot of rats at the Fount?" asked Gregor.**

"**Not many," said Stellovet. Now she was watching Gregor more closely. "They are no doubt afraid of our fighting abilities."**

Ripred snorted. "More like we're afraid we'll grow lazy trying to get some sort of challenge out of them. Plus, they have nothing of importance,"

Mrs. Cormaci laughed. She loved it when people got their come-uppance.

"**They have little reason to come," Howard said, giving his sister a disapproving look. "They would have to swim their way up treacherous river rapids, and we have no crops or Overlanders worth destroying."**

"**Oh, so have you ever even seen a rat?" Gregor said pointedly to Stellovet.**

**She blushed, turning bright pink from head to toe. "Yes! I have seen a rat! On the riverbank! As close as I am to you!"**

"**But, Stellovet," said little Chimney, tugging her hand, "that rat was dead."**

Everyone in the room burst out laughing. Even Boots, though that was mostly because everyone else was laughing.

**Stellovet blushed an even deeper shade of pink. "Hush!" she said to Chimney angrily.**

"**That's about what I thought," said Gregor. "Hey, Luxa, weren't you going to show me that flip thing again?"**

"**If you will excuse us, cousins," Luxa said.**

**Luxa and Gregor turned and walked away. He caught her eye. The hurt was still evident on her face, but she gave him a smile. "Thank you, Gregor," she said softly.**

"**They're idiots," he said with a shrug. "Go ahead, Luxa, do one of those flip things. Do the fanciest, wildest one you can think of."**

Grace smiled at her son. She knew he hated bullies and likes that he was sticking up for his friends. '_Luxa appears to be a bit more than a friend,_' said a nasty little voice in her head. She ignored it.

**Luxa paused for a moment, focused on a spot halfway across the field, and took off. She launched into a beautiful sequence of flips, en****ding with a move where she turned two full times in the air completely stretched out and landed on her feet. People applauded, but she just jogged back to Gregor as if she didn't notice. "Now you try," she said.**

"**Just give me some space," Gregor said, swinging his arms as if to loosen up, and she laughed.**

As did everyone in the room.

**Then Mareth called them all together to begin sword training. Howard and Stellovet had joined their group. Everyone choose a sword from a large cart that had been wheeled out onto the field. Gregor examined the weapons, unsure of what to do.**

"**Here, Overlander, try this one," said Mareth. He picked up a sword, resting the bottom of the blade against the back of his wrist, and offered Gregor the hilt.**

**Gregor's fingers closed around the handle, and he felt the weight of the sword in his hand, heavy at the hilt, light at the tip. He waved it a couple of times in the air, and it made a swishing sound.**

"**How does it feel?" asked Mareth.**

"**All right, I guess," said Gregor. It didn't feel like much of anything, really. He was sort of relieved. All that warrior stuff made him nervous. He didn't like fighting, and he was glad he didn't feel any different while holding the sword.**

'_Hmm, that sounds like fore-shadowing,_' Lizzie thought. '_But no, it can't be. It's not like Gregor goes crazy or something while fighting. . . . Right?_'

**Mareth divided up the rest of the group into pairs to practice drills. Then he took Gregor aside for his first sword-fighting lesson. The soldier showed him different attacks you could make with a blade, and different ways to defend those attacks. **

"That doesn't make any sense," Lizzie pointed out. "The only people Gregor would find himself fighting would be rats, right?"

Ripred laughed and whispered in her ear, "Oh, The Underlanders never make any sense," to which she started giggling.

**Gregor didn't really see the point of this, since it seemed unlikely he'd fighting a human, but he guessed this was just basic stuff that everybody had to learn.**

**After a while they broke to rest for a few minutes, and then Mareth announced it was time for cannon practice.**

Ripred leaned forward, eager to hear exactly what happened with the cannons.

"**Cannon practice? We're going to shoot off cannons?" Gregor asked Luxa.**

"**Oh, no, these are small cannons for sword practice. To help with speed and accuracy," said Luxa. "You will see."**

**Three cannons were wheeled onto the field. Off to the side, Mareth set a barrel that was filled with waxy things about the size of a golf ball. "These are bloods balls," Luxa said, holding one out on her palm.**

**When Gregor took it, he could feel some sort of liquid sloshing around inside it. "It's filled with blood?" he asked, kind of grossed out.**

"**No, only a red liquid to suggest blood. It makes it easier to see if one had made a hit or not," said Luxa.**

Lizzie finally relaxed about the blood balls. Though, to her concern, she saw Gregor tense up. '_Does something happen with the blood balls?_ she wondered.

**The three cannons were positioned in an arc and loaded up with five blood balls each. The Underlanders gathered in a circle outside the cannons.**

"**So, who is brave enough to go first?" Mareth asked with a smile. "Why not you, Howard? I remember you did quite well the last time you visited."**

**Howard took his position between the cannons. One faced him, one was on his right, the last on his left. Each was about twenty feet away. On Mareth's command, three Underlanders started to crank handles on the sides of the cannons. Blood balls began to rocket out of the barrels straight at Howard. He swung his sword back and forth, trying to cover his front and sides. Seven blood balls burst as his blade made contact with them. But another eight lay unharmed on the ground around him. The whole thing only took about ten seconds.**

"**Well done, Howard! Well done," said Mareth, and Howard looked pleased with himself.**

"**Was that good?" Gregor asked Luxa.**

**She shrugged. "It was not bad" was as much praise as she could muster.**

Gregor laughed at Luxa. She had reached the same number after all. He wondered how she would have reacted if she had said seven was awful, only to find that she herself had hit seven.

**One by one, each of the students took their turn in the line of fire. Some hit only one or two balls. Luxa matched Howard's seven, and Stellovet hit a respectable five. When all the Underlanders had gone, Mareth called for the cannons to be moved to another part of the field.**

"**Does not the Overlander take a turn?" Stellovet asked in an innocent voice.**

Grace narrowed her eyes. "But he's barely ever even handled a sword!"

"**This is his first day of sword practice," said Mareth.**

"**I suppose it is too daunting," said Stellovet, "even for one so accomplished."**

Mrs. Cormaci pursed her lips. She absolutely despised people like Stellovet.

"**I greatly doubt Gregor is daunted," Mareth said with respect. "But our weapons are unfamiliar to him. Would you like to try it, Gregor? Only as an exercise. Almost no one gets many on their first try."**

Mrs. Cormaci started laughing. "So tell me," she turned to Luxa. "How bad does he do?"

Luxa caught Ripred's eye and the two started laughing.

"What?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.

"He, well he -" Luxa started.

Gregor covered her mouth with his hand and turned to his neighbor. "It will be in the book shortly,"

Mrs. Cormaci grinned widely. '_Wow, he must have done awful,_'

"**Sure, why not?" said Gregor. It was funny; he **_**did **_**sort of want to. He had a feeling it was like those county fairs he'd been to in Virginia, though. They had these games like tossing a softball into an old milk jug, or getting a quarter**

'_Remember quarter,_' Luxa told herself.

**to land on a glass plate. They looked simple, but when you tried them, they were next to impossible. Still, you had to try.**

**Gregor took his place between the cannons. He held his sword out in front of him like he'd seen the Underlanders do. He felt that slightly anxious, slightly excited feeling he had when it was his turn to bat in baseball. He heard Mareth give the order to fire.**

Luxa and Mrs. Cormaci both leaned forward eagerly. Mrs. Cormaci wanted to hear how bad Gregor had done, while Luxa wished to hear a description of how being a rager felt.

**And then a strange thing happened.**

Grace frowned. '_Strange?_'

**As the first ball left the cannon in front of him, the arena, the Underlanders, almost everything around him seemed to mute and grow indistinct. He was aware only of the blood balls flying toward him from all directions. His arm was moving. He could hear his blade making a whistling sound. Something splattered against his face. And then it was over.**

Ripred smiled. So the boy really was a rager. And good at describing the sensation to.

Luxa's eyes went wide. She hadn't known that everything faded out of focus. She noticed Gregor was tense and glancing between his parents and Lizzie, so she wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him.

**His surroundings came back into focus: first the walls of the arena, then the shocked faces of the Underlanders. He could feel liquid dripping off his face and hands. The pounding of his heart was audible. He looked down at the ground. At his feet lay the oozing shells of fifteen balls.**

Mrs. Cormaci's eyes went wide. She was about to say something when Lizzie blurted out, "How?"

Gregor glanced at her, unsure how to answer. Grace continued the question. "Gregor, this was your first time with a sword. How in the world did you hit all fifteen blood balls if Luxa could only hit seven?"

Gregor glanced up at Ripred and saw the rat nodding. So he took a deep breath, turned to his parents and said, "I'm a rager,"

* * *

><p><strong>Muahahaha! Cliffhanger! So the next chapter will take a while, unfortunately. *mutters* Stupid school . . .<strong>

**[1] Oh, I HATE heights. Even worse, though, is the sensation of falling.**

**Question time! Did Gregor's family ever find out about the **_**real **_**Prophecy of Time? I know Lizzie read a changed version, but what about the rest?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

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><p>Grace looked at Gregor for a second, calmly handed the book to her husband, and turned back to her son.<p>

"A what?" she asked, in a deceptively calm voice.

Gregor hesitated, then said, "A rager,"

"And what, exactly, is a rager?" still in the scarily calm voice.

Gregor sighed and resigned himself to his task. He didn't really know how to explain it so he borrowed Twitchtip's words. "A rager is a special kind of fighter. They're born with great fighting ability. While others may train for years to master fighting, ragers are natural-born . . ."

"Yes?"

Gregor paused. He knew that Twitchtip had ended her sentence by saying ragers were natural-born killers. And it was true. But he didn't want to tell his family that. But apparently Ripred had no such hesitations.

"Killers. We're natural-born killers," he said, wondering how long it would take Gregor's mother to start freaking out.

So while Lizzie, Grace, and Steve sat there gaping like fish, wondering how Gregor, of all people, could be a natural-born _killer_, Mrs. Cormaci noticed something.

"_We_? You said we. Are you a rager, too?" she asked Ripred.

"Yes,"

"I s-suppose that makes s-sense," Lizzie mumbled. "V-vikus said that - that no one could d-defend themselves against y-you."

"What do you mean," Grace said, finally finding her voice. "by natural-born killer?"

Now Luxa spoke up. "Ma'am, this is not Gregor's fault. It is the way he was born. He can not help it."

Steve smiled at the girl. "I don't think that's what Grace meant. She just wants to know what Ripred meant by natural-born killer."

Gregor sighed. "We could take forever to explain why I'm really good at fighting. But Twitchtip explains this all to me. So I suggest we keep reading, and you'll eventually find out."

Steve nodded before Grace could say anything and started to read.

**Gregor opened his fingers, and the sword fell to the ground. It was shiny with the red liquid, which, if it wasn't actually blood, sure looked like it. He ran his sword hand across the front of his shirt, leaving a big red stain. Suddenly he felt sick.**

Luxa frowned. She hadn't known this was how he had been reacting. She had just been so excited that Gregor could hit the total, she hadn't been paying any attention to how he was taken it.

**He turned on his heel and walked away from the sword, from the blood balls, from the Underlanders who were no beginning to talk in excited voices. Word of what he'd just done must have been spreading around the arena, because people were rushing toward the cannon area. He could feel them beginning to press in on him, and someone, Mareth maybe, called his name. **

"It was Mareth," Luxa informed Gregor.

**It was becoming hard to breathe.**

**Suddenly Ares was there before him. "I know a place" was all he said.**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. Even though Gregor had been awful to him, Ares was still there for him.**  
><strong>

**Gregor automatically climbed on his back, and they took off. He could hear several people calling for him as they flew out of the stadium, but Ares didn't stop. They headed not in the direction of Regalia, but into the tunnels opposite the entrance to the city.**

**"You will want light," Ares said, angling in toward a row of torches on the tunnel wall, and Gregor reached out and snagged one. In the torchlight, his hand glistened wet and red. **

Lizzie gulped, thinking of blood.**  
><strong>

**He looked away.**

**Ares dove off into a side tunnel that forked repeatedly. Eventually they arrived at a small underground lake flanked by dozens of caves.**

Luxa and Gregor grinned sadly, thinking of the last time they had been in that cave together.**  
><strong>

** The bat dove into one with a narrow entrance. Inside, the cave opened up into a wide space. Large crystal formations grew down from the high ceiling. Gregor slid off Ares's back and onto the stone floor.**

**He pressed his forehead into his knees and let his breathing return to normal. What had happened back there? How had he hit all fifteen blood balls? He'd been running sword drills with Mareth and nothing unusual had happened, but when those blood balls had started flying at him . . .**

'_Maybe being a rager is like some sort of self-defense mechanism. And that's why Gregor can't seem to control it,_' Lizzie thought. '_Oh, he must hate being a rager. He doesn't even like it when people _argue_.'_**  
><strong>

**"Did you see? Did you see what I did?" he asked Ares. He had seen some bats flying around the arena that morning, but he hadn't noticed Ares.**

**The bat sat motionless for a moment, then answered. "You broke all the blood balls."**

**"I hit them all," Gregor said, still trying to remember it.**

Lizzie frowned as she heard that. "Why can't you remember what you did?" she asked her brother.

He looked at her, wondering how to answer.

Grace looked at her son in concern. "Can you remember any of the times you fought as a rager?"

He answered his mom's question, as it was easier. "Some. Bits and pieces."

"What 'bits and pieces'?" Gregor's dad asked.

"Um," Gregor hesitated. "The places I need to hit."

"Hit?" questioned Mrs. Cormaci.

"To survive. Like, where to strike with my sword. The neck, certain parts of the rib cage, to get to the heart. The eyes, to get to the brain."

Grace looked slightly disgusted with this piece of news, but said nothing as her husband continued to read.**  
><strong>

** "But I don't even know how to use a sword."**

**"Apparently you learn quickly," said Ares, and somehow that made Gregor laugh a little. He looked around the cave. There were food supplies, blankets, spare torches.**

**"What's this place? Like, your hideout?" Gregor asked.**

**"Yes, my hideout," said Ares. "At one time it was also Henry's. We came here when we did not want to be around others. Now it is less my hideout than my home."**

Mrs. Cormaci scowled. "Those bats need to treat Ares like he was one of them. He's a hero. Without him, they wouldn't have their precious 'Warrior',"

No one pointed out that the bats did treat Ares like a hero now. Too late.**  
><strong>

**The implication of what the bat was saying began to dawn on Gregor. "So, you don't live with the other bats anymore? I thought when I bonded with you it made things okay again - about Henry and all."**

**"It spared me from official banishment. But no one save Aurora and Luxa will speak to me," said Ares.**

**"Not even Vikus?" Gregor asked, forgetting his own problems for a minute.**

**"Well, yes, Vikus. But he will speak to anyone," Ares said without much enthusiasm.**

**He had had no idea things were so bad for the bat. If he hadn't been banished physically, he had been banished socially from his world. And then when Gregor had shown up again, all he'd done was order him around. "Look, I really am sorry about yesterday," he said. "I was mad and scared about Boots, and I took it out on you."**

Lizzie smiled at her brother. She was proud of him for apologizing to Ares.**  
><strong>

**"I was angry, too, about many things that have little to do with you," said Ares.**

**So, it was better between them. But Gregor still felt like Ares was a stranger.**

**"How'd you hook up with Henry, anyway?" he blurted out. Maybe it wasn't polite to ask, but it was the main thing Gregor wanted to know.**

**"Henry chose me because I was wild and known to disobey many of the rules of my land. I chose Henry because I was flattered and he was royal and under his protection I knew I could be absolved of many things," said Ares.**

"So, it wasn't because they liked each other, or something?" Mrs. Cormaci muttered to herself. "That seems stupid."

Only Lizzie heard her, and the young girl frowned. '_But Gregor and Ares didn't bond because they liked each other. It was to save Ares's life. Though I suppose that's a better reason than because Ares was a "bad-boy rebel",_' she thought.**  
><strong>

** "It was not all bad. We flew well together and shared many many of the same tastes. In most ways, we were suited to each other. In one, we were not."**

**So among bats Ares had been some bad-boy rebel type. Of course, that was the kind of bat Henry would pick. Gregor had picked Ares, too, because the bat had risked everything to save his life - but would he have chosen him if the circumstances hadn't been so extraordinary? He didn't know.**

**There was a rustling of wings at the cave entrance, and Aurora flew in with Luxa.**

**"We knew you would be here!" cried Luxa. She bounced off Aurora and almost danced across the floor, clapping her hands together. "Was it not wonderful? Did you see it? Did you see the look on Stellovet's face?"**

**"As if she had a mouth full of vinegar," Aurora purred, apparently also in a good mood.**

Mrs. Cormaci smirked. She liked that Stellovet's stupid little plan to make Gregor look stupid had gone awry. Not that it would have worked anyway, even if he hadn't hit the total. It was his first time with a sword after all.**  
><strong>

**"Why?" said Gregor.**

**"Why? Because of you and the blood balls!" Luxa said, as if he were dense. **

"You are," Ripred snorted. "About many things."

Gregor frowned at the rat, but, to his surprise, Luxa giggled.

"Maybe I like him like that," she smiled, lightly kissing Gregor on the lips.

He turned bright red, but stuck his tongue out at Ripred, who just rolled his eyes.**  
><strong>

**"She thought to make you look like a fool, and instead you hit the total! Almost no one has ever done this, Gregor! It was brilliant!"**

**For the first time, Gregor felt a tingle of pride in his accomplishment. Maybe he had overreacted, because of the fake blood and all. Maybe he'd actually just done a really cool thing, like running the table in pool, or pitching a no-hitter in baseball. "Yeah?" he said.**

**"Of course! And I have not seen Stellovet so put out since the picnic!" said Luxa, giggling at the memory.**

**The bats both began to make a "huh, huh, huh" sound, and it took a moment for Gregor to realize they were laughing.**

**"Oh, Gregor, you should have seen it. Vikus forced us all to go this picnic with my Fount cousins because he thought it would help us get along better.**_[1] _**And Stellovet kept pretending she heard rats, and making Nerissa terrified. So Henry trick her into eating moth cocoons. She spent the whole afternoon picking silk out of her teeth and saying, 'Ah will noth forgeth thiseth!'" Luxa said, doing a pretty great imitation of someone with their mouth full of silk.**

"Gregor, how would you know what someone with a mouthful of silk would sound like?" Mrs. Cormaci asked, amused. "You've never seen anyone with a mouthful of silk."

"No," Gregor agreed. "But Larry's eaten a whole lot of weird things. I've got a pretty good idea."

"Who is . . . Larry?" Luxa asked.

"He's an Overlander friend of mine. Him and Angelina,"

"Ah," Luxa nodded, wondering if she'd ever get to meet Larry and Angelina.

**"How he'd get her to eat cocoons?" Gregor asked, both amused and grossed out.**

**"He told her they were a delicacy reserved only for royalty and he could not offer her any. So of course she stole a handful and stuffed it in her mouth," said Luxa.**

Everyone started laughing, the laughter tainted only slightly by the knowledge that Henry was a back-stabbing traitor.**  
><strong>

**"Henry could trick her into anything." Ares said, followed by a few more "huh, huh, huhs." And then suddenly his laughter faded. "He could trick all of us."**

**A cloud seemed to fall on the bats and Luxa. Henry had treated them far worse than he had treated Stellovet.**

**"Whatever Henry was wrong about, he was right about my Fount cousins," Luxa said grimly. "Especially Stellovet. She dreams of Nerissa and me dying because she thinks Vikus would be made king then and she, as his granddaughter would be a princess."**

"That's awful!" Lizzie said.

"That's Stellovet," Luxa muttered.**  
><strong>

**They were all quiet for a time, then Aurora piped up on a more positive note. "Gregor's feat will be good for you, Ares,"**

**"We shall see," said Ares.**

**"It will. It will do you no harm to have a bond who can hit the total," said Luxa. "No one will dare ignore you now."**

**Gregor hoped this was true. It didn't seem like Ares had much of a life.**

**Suddenly Ares's and Aurora's heads shot up. Luxa listened a second and then leaped onto Aurora's back. They were gone in a flash.**

"What? What's happened?" Grace asked, concerned.

"Oh, it was absolutely awful," Luxa smirked at Ripred.

"Well, part of it was at least," Gregor added.

Grace shook her head, having heard the sarcastic tones in the children's voices.**  
><strong>

**Gregor could hear some kind of horn blowing in the distance. It had a high, wailing pitch. "What is it?"**

**"It is a warning, Overlander. You had best mount up," said Ares.**

**Gregor grabbed a torch and threw his leg over Ares's neck. They were immediately airborne.**

**"Warning? What kind of warning?" he asked as they swerved out over the lake.**

**Ares spoke calmly, but his muscles were tense. "It means that rats have entered Regalia."**

"Ah," Mrs. Cormaci smiled. She, like Grace, had heard the kid's sarcastic tones. But she had also caught Luxa's glance at Ripred. She knew what was going on. Or part of it at least.

Steve gave the book to Lizzie, who started to read.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>I would've updated sooner, but . . . *sigh* I had homework. So sad.<br>**

**[1] Oh, imagine what would happen if Vikus (or anyone, really) forced Luxa, Gregor, and Ripred to go on a picnic with the Fount cousins! I'm pretty sure Ripred would kill Stellovet.**

**How did I do with the first scene? I felt it was kinda' anti-climatic, with the whole 'we'll discuss this later'. I'm going to try and make it . . . I don't know, more explosive, when Twitchtip fully explains it. 'Cause right now, they only really have a basic understanding of ragers.  
><strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

* * *

><p>Lizzie began to read.<strong><br>**

**Gregor gripped Ares's fur and immediately assumed the worst. If rats were in Regalia, they must have come for one thing: Boots!**

"**Hurry, Ares! Please!" said Gregor.**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. She was glad Gregor was being kinder to Ares.**  
><strong>

"**Yes, Overlander, I will hurry," said Ares. His powerful wings were beating up and down in a blur. "And Luxa and Aurora will go straight to your sister."**

"We did," Luxa agreed.**  
><strong>

**It was only a few minutes, but it seemed to take forever to get back to the arena. Gregor had visions of an army of rats ripping their way across Regalia with one target in mind. Maybe the giant white rat itself had come to kill her!**

"No," Ripred shook his head. "Even if the Bane had been, well, you know, bigger, so to say, they wouldn't have risked losing him."

"What do you mean, _bigger_?" Grace asked the rat.

"It's sure to be explained, Mom," Gregor said.

"Just like this 'rager' thing is gonna' be explained?" Mrs. Cormaci smirked.

"Yes," Gregor scowled. "Like that."**  
><strong>

**As they sped into the stadium, a guard shouted at them and waved at the massive stone doors that separated the playing field from the city. "There are just the two! There, by the doors! Stay back!"**

**Ares put on the brakes, but they were close enough to get a good view of the battle on the ground. In front of the doors were two rats fighting for their lives against a dozen humans on bats. The smaller rat seemed able to leap amazingly high off the ground. It was not getting a lot of action, though, because a much larger rat was shielding it from the brunt of the attack.**

Gregor glanced at Ripred, wonderingly.

"I hadn't even given her to you yet. I couldn't have her getting hurt, now could I?" the rat answered Gregor's silent question.

**The big rat was moving so quickly that Gregor couldn't tell much about it. It was spinning in a circle, springing from its front feet to its back feet, lashing out at anything that came within reach of its claws and teeth. He could see bats and humans getting wounded, but not a single blow was landing on the rat. It was like watching one of those martial arts movies where no one could touch the main sensei or master or whatever, it was like watching –**

"**Oh, no!" Gregor exclaimed. "It's him. It's got to be –"**

"**Ripred!" Ares cut him off.**

"**Stop them!" said Gregor.**

"Took you long enough," Ripred laughed.**  
><strong>

**Ares was already diving. He swooped in from the**** side, knocking two riders off the front line. He did a figure eight that disoriented a few more, and did some strange hovering motion in the air over Ripred's head.**

"**Stop!" yelled Gregor. "Stop, he's a friend!"**

"In a very loose sense of the word," Luxa snickered at Ripred.**  
><strong>

**The Underlanders pulled back to avoid hitting him, and began to shout angrily at Ares to move.**

"**No, you don't understand! He's on out side! It's Ripred!" Gregor hollered over the din. They heard the name Ripred, and the Underlanders pulled back in silence.**

**The big rat stopped spinning and fell almost lazily on its back. Its scarred face broke into a big, fanged grin, and it started to laugh. "Oh, look at them, Overlander. Are they not priceless?"**

**Gregor wanted to laugh, too, **

"See? I told you," Ripred said.

"Yeah, whatever," Gregor said, slightly subdued. He was going to be reading about Twitchtip.**  
><strong>

**because some of the Underlanders' mouths were literally hanging open, but he stifled the impulse. "Stop it," he said to Ripred. "It's not funny."**

**Ripred just guffawed even louder. "You know it is! You know you want to laugh, too!"**

**It was such a silly thing to say in the midst of all the tension that it caught Gregor off guard, and he did kind of laugh. He stopped himself quickly, but it was too late. Everyone had heard him. "Just shut up, okay?" he**** said to Ripred, who ignored him completely as he chortled in glee.**

"**Can somebody get, like, Vikus, or Solovet, or somebody?" Gregor asked. None of the Underlanders answered him or flew off. He noticed the smaller rat hunkered back against the doors, wide-eyed and panting. He figured it was a friend of Ripred's. "Hey, sorry about this. I'm Gregor. Nice to meet you."**

Lizzie frowned, wondering why Gregor was being nice to this rat. He had been very sarcastic with Ripred, when they first met.**  
><strong>

**The rat pulled its gums back from its teeth and hissed viciously at him, causing both Gregor and Ares to flinch.**

**Ripred was beating his tail on the ground in a spasm of hilarity. "Oh! Oh! You needn't try to sweettalk her," he gasped. "Twitchtip hates everybody!"**

"Not everybody," Luxa whispered in Gregor's ear. "She spoke very highly of you, to the end."

Gregor nodded slightly, unshed tears filling his eyes.**  
><strong>

**The smaller rat, Twitchtip, snarled at Ripred. Then she tore a hole in the moss with one slash of her paw and buried her nose in it.**

"Well, that's odd," Mrs. Cormaci frowned, confused.

**Okay, well, she was weird.**

"**Ground formation," commanded a voice, and Gregor turned to see Solovet on a bat coming in for a landing. The Underlanders brought their bats down in a tight diamond pattern. Ignoring Ripred, Solovet walked through the soldiers and bats, sending the wounded off to get medical attention. Then she dismissed the rest.**

**By this time, Ripred had pulled himself together and was stretched out comfortably on his side. Twitchtip still had her nose buried in the hole, in the moss. She was breathing through her mouth in short, distressed puffs.**

Lizzie frowned. '_The poor thing. I wonder what's wrong with her,_'**  
><strong>

**Solovet crossed to the rats, signaling Ares to land as she went. She surveyed the invaders stonily. "I have just sent eleven of my ranks to the hospital."**

"**Oh, I barely scratched them. I was just giving them a little live rat practice, and I think we both have to admit they need it," Ripred said with a significant nod.**

"**You were supposed to meet an escort guard at Queenshead tomorrow," said Solovet.**

"**Was that tomorrow? I felt certain it was today, And we waited and waited and poor Twitchtip was so eager for her first glimpse of Regalia**

"I am sure she was, Ripred," Luxa scowled at the rat.**  
><strong>

**and I didn't have the heart to disappoint her another minute. Right, Twitchtip?" Ripred said, poking the rat with the tip of his tail.**

**Twitchtip yanked her nose from the moss, snapped at Ripred's tail, which he whipped out of reach just in time, and shoved her nose back in the earth.**

"**Isn't she a charmer? Isn't she just irresistible?" said Ripred. "And I've had her all to myself on a journey from the Dead Land. Imagine the fun."**

"Oh, I bet she was pleased, too," Mrs. Cormaci teased Ripred.**  
><strong>

**Twitchtip glowered at him but didn't attack again.**

"**And for what reason do we have the pleasure of her company?" Solovet asked, eyeing Twitchtip.**

"**Why, I have brought her as a gift. For you, for your people, and for Gregor here. Yes, especially for Gregor," said Ripred.**

**Gregor looked and the seething rat with alarm. "For me? She's a gift for me?"**

"**Well, not literally. It's not as if I own her. But I made a bargain with her. She's agreed to help you find the Bane, and I've agreed to let her live with my merry little band of rats in the Dead Land if she succeeds," said Ripred. "You see, she was driven out of the gnawers' land years ago and had been surviving on her own."**

"**Because she is mad," Solovet said, as if that were obvious.**

Gregor frowned. "She is not."**  
><strong>

"**Oh, no, not mad. Twitchtip is gifted. Show the people what you can do, Twitchtip," said Ripred. Twitchtip just glared at him. "Go on, show them, or it's back to living with me, myself, and I for you."**

**Twitchtip reluctantly lifted up her head and brushed ****the moss and dirt from her nose. She tilted back her chin, took a deep sniff, and grimaced. "The boy's sister is located on the third level of a large circular structure in a room with eight other pups and two grown ones. She's just eaten cake and milk. She's cutting a new tooth. Her catch cloth is wet, and her shirt is pink," Twitchtip spat out. Then she crammed her nose back in the moss.**

"How did she do that?" Lizzie asked, amazed.

"She can smell all that?" Mrs. Cormaci wondered.

"Yes," Gregor muttered. "She could smell all that. And more. It really was amazing."

Lizzie glanced at her brother in concern. She remembered waking up in the code room to see Gregor crying over a slip of paper. Luxa and Ripred hadn't really explained that well, but from what she had gathered, Twitchtip had died and Gregor had been greatly upset.**  
><strong>

**Solovet's eyebrows shot up. "She is a scent seer?"**

"**Yes, her sense of smell is so unnaturally heightened she can even detect color. She is one in a million. An anomaly. A fluke. A pariah because her own species finds her gift so disquieting. **

"But, wouldn't the rats want to use her?" Lizzie asked. "If this gift is so . . . wonderful, why drive her out?"

"Because she could smell secrets," Gregor told her.

"What?" Grace asked. "How do you smell secrets? And how do you know?"

"How could she smell colors? I don't know. Never thought to ask. And I know, because she was the one who informed me that I'm a rager."

Grace started to say something about that, but Lizzie, seeing her brother's face, continued to read.

**But very, very useful, I think, to you, my dear Solovet," said Ripred.**

"**She is not a bad fighter, either. If she has survived alone in the Dead Land." For the first time****, Solovet smiled. "Can you stay to dine, Ripred?"**

"**I can be persuaded," said Ripred. "Have them make the thing with shrimp, won't you? And no**** skimping on the cream."**

"**No skimping on the cream," agreed Solovet.**

"**And give Twitchtip plenty of food, but make it bland. Handle it as little as possible. Your scent is repulsive to her," said Ripred.**

"Well, gee. That's nice of you to say," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes.

**Solovet gave orders for Twitchtip to be taken to a remote cave outside Regalia, where the city's smells wouldn't be so torturous to her.**

**Before they left, Solovet turned to Gregor. "I have not had time to welcome you properly, Gregor. I hear you made quite a stir at training today."**

"**I guess," said Gregor.**

"You guess?" Mrs. Cormaci stared at him. "You only guess?"

"I suppose," Gregor sighed, not really paying much attention.**  
><strong>

"**He hit the total," Solovet said to Ripred.**

"**Did he?" Ripred said, surveying him with interest. Suddenly Ripred's tail came up out of nowhere and sliced at Gregor. **

"What?" Grace shrieked. "Why did you do that?"

"To test him. Now calm down and listen."

**To Gregor's surprise, he found the rat's tail clenched in his hand. He had reflexively blocked it inches from his face.**

"Holy . . ." mumbled Mrs. Cormaci. She turned to Gregor. "How did you do that?"

"Rager reflexes," he muttered.

Grace however was more concerned about what could have happened. "And what if he hadn't grabbed your tail?" she demanded of Ripred.

"I would've changed course at the last second." he shrugged, as though it were no big deal. "He was never in any danger."

"This time," Grace muttered.**  
><strong>

"**Well, you can't teach that," Ripred said, slipping his tail out of Gregor's grasp.**

"I wish you could," Luxa whispered enviously. How amazing would it be, to be able to snatch a rat's tail out of the air, before it could hit you?**  
><strong>

**Ripred went off to the palace with Solovet through some secret passage to avoid causing a panic in the city.**

**Ares flew Gregor back to the palace. Guards greeted him at the High Hall and, after a moment of discomfort, they greeted Ares as well. Maybe Aurora was right. Maybe things would be better for the bat now that he was bonded to someone who could hit a lot of blood balls.**

"Not that it matters anymore," Gregor muttered angrily.**  
><strong>

**In the bath, he scrubbed and scrubbed at the fake blood, but it still left a stain on his skin. He finally gave up, hoping it would wear off before he went back to school – after the white rat was dead or whatever.**

**He went to get Boots from the nursery and was happy to see Dulcet, the really nice nanny who had cared for the toddler the first trip down. "How's she been doing?"**

"**Oh, Boots has had a very good day. I think it has been somewhat trying for Temp, though," said Dulcet, nodding toward a corner.**

**For the first time, Gregor spotted the giant cockroach. He was being decked out in dress-up clothes by a group of little kids. Each of his insect legs wore a different kind of shoe. His head poked out of a long purple gown that bunched up around his neck. Pink ribbons festooned his drooping antennas. Boots plunked a fuzzy hat on his head, and the kids jumped up and down, squealing in delight.**

"Oh, poor Temp!" Lizzie gasped. Then she giggled, remembering the last time Boots had got it into her mind that Gregor needed to be made 'pretty'. Lizzie had helped with the make-up.**  
><strong>

"**Temp have hat! Temp have hat!" she beamed at Gregor as he came up to get her.**

"**Ohhh," Temp said mournfully. "Ohhh."**

"Poor little roach," Mrs. Cormaci chuckled.**  
><strong>

"**He sure does," said Gregor. "He looks real good, too. But now it's time for dinner, Boots." He knelt down and whispered to Temp, "Don't worry, buddy. I'll get you out of here." Trying not to laugh, he began to untangle the poor insect from the clothes. He'd been the object of Boots's dress-up games often enough to feel sympathetic. **

Lizzie giggled again as Ripred asked her, "So how'd he look?"

"Oh, he was simply divine in Boots's favorite tiara,"

Luxa snorted as Gregor turned to glare at Lizzie and Ripred.

"I make Gregor look pretty!" Boots agreed.

"I am sure you did," Luxa said, trying desperately not to laugh.**  
><strong>

**This had probably been going on for hours.**

**Unhappily, dinner turned out to be a reunion of sorts for those who had gone on "The Prophecy of Gray" quest – those who had survived it, anyway. Of the eight who had lived to tell the tale, only Gregor's dad was absent. Gregor, Boots, Luxa, Aurora, Ares, Temp, and Ripred were all there, with Solovet and Vikus presiding over the table. Maybe Vikus had thought this would give them some kind of comfort****, but if the memories it brought up of the dead – the two spiders, Gox and Treflex, the cockroach, Tick, and Luxa's cousin, Henry – were painful for Gregor, they had to be excruciating for some of the other survivors.**

Luxa nodded, resting her head back on Gregor's chest.**  
><strong>

**It didn't help that this was the first time Boots seemed to notice that Tick was gone. Boots had been asleep with a high fever when Tick had given her life to protect her. When they'd gotten back home, Boots had talked about Tick as if she were fine. Gregor let her because he didn't know how to explain to a two-year-old that her friend was dead and, besides, he'd never**** planned on coming back here, anyway. Now her little voice going, "Where Tick? Where Tick?" sent jolts of sadness through him.**

"It's okay," Boots reassured her past-self. "Tick here." She placed her hand over her heart. Then she went back to counting her hair.**  
><strong>

**After several minutes of "Where Tick?" almost everyone had given up eating.**** Without even excusing himself, Ares just up and flew out of the room, and Temp hid under the table, making odd clicking sounds that Gregor thought might be some kind of cockroach crying.**

**Even Ripred seemed to raise an eyebrow at the guest list. "Really, Vikus, did you think we were going to swap war stories?"**

"**I thought it might be healing," said Vikus. "That it might help some accept their losses."**

**At that, Luxa sprang up, kicking her chair back onto the floor behind her. She and Aurora were gone in seconds.**

"**And it's working beautifully," said Ripred. "Ah, well, more for me." The rat hooked his paw around a huge serving dish of shrimp in cream sauce and pulled it in front of him. He stuck his entire face in the dish and sucked it down. At least this distracted Boots, who was so fascinated by his eating methods that she dipped her own face in her plate to imitate him.**

"Boots," Grace sighed. She had seen Boots doing that from time to time, and now she knew why. She glared at the culprit.**  
><strong>

"**Mm," Ripred said dreamily as he pulled his dripping muzzle from the dish.**

"**Mm," Boots echoed. She giggled, dropped her face back in her dish, and slurped.**

Grace couldn't help it. She smiled at the cuteness of it all, trying to remain angry, but failing.**  
><strong>

**Ripred's long tongue swept around his jaws, cleaning off the cream. "Nothing like that in the Dead Land. Nothing much of anything these days, of course. Since the humans have cut the gnawers from their main fishing grounds."**

"**Perhaps a little hunger will help them reflect on their poor lack of judgment in attacking us," Solovet said, helping herself to a large serving of mushr****ooms.**

Lizzie frowned. She found that she did not like Solovet.**  
><strong>

"**Surely the gnawers are not really starving?" asked Vikus.**

"**Aren't they?" said Ripred. "You have driven them back to the border of the ants. The rivers left open to them are dangerous to fish and are downstream from the crawlers, so the catch is small. What, in your mind, are they feeding on?"**

**There was silence.**

**Gregor tried to imagine being a rat and being hungry. In his experience, being hungry didn't make you think about anything but getting food **

Luxa frowned. '_"_In his experience"_ . . ._' she thought. '_That's awful. Gregor shouldn't be able to think things like that. He shouldn't have to be worried about if he was going to eat that day._'_  
><em>

**– or maybe, in the rats' case, getting even.**

"**It's not helping the grand plan. I have enough to overcome as it is. And you reap what you sow, Solovet," said Ripred.**

"**Is this what you came to tell me, Ripred?" Solovet said, unmoved.**

"**No. ****You know what you're doing. Or at least you flatter yourself you do. I came to deliver Twitchtip and to teach Gregor another trick he can't learn from you." **

Lizzie leaned forward eagerly. '_This must be the echolocation lessons! Maybe I'll be able to learn a bit, since Gregor's been to upset to come through on his promise to teach me._'**  
><strong>

**Ripred stuck an entire loaf of bread in his mouth and pushed back from the table. "Ready, boy?"**

"**For what?" Gregor asked, watching the crumbs fly out of Ripred's mouth.**

"**Your first lesson," Ripred said with a gulp. "It starts now."**

"That sounds so ominous," Mrs. Cormaci stated. "'It starts now,'"

Lizzie giggled as she handed the book to Ripred.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Another update!<strong>

**Oh, and I've pretty much just realized, nobody in this room but Luxa and Gregor, knows what happened on their trip in the fourth book. Ripred knows a little, but only towards the end. Gregor didn't go home at the end of that book and never told his family what happened. Everything will be a complete surprise. Including the snakes.**

**And poor Gregor. This is going to be a tough book for him. Not only is Ares in it a lot, but his family is finding out he's a killer, and he has to read about Twitchtip.  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

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><p>Ripred took the book, and began to read.<p>

**"Echolocation?" Gregor said blankly. "You're going to teach me echolocation?" He was standing in a circular cave somewhere deep beneath Regalia with nothing but his mini flashlight.**

Grace started blankly at the book. Could echolocation be taught to humans? She seemed to remember Lizzie making Gregor practice, but he'd never seemed to actually be able to do it.

**Ripred slouched against a wall. Even for a rat, he had terrible posture. When he fought, everything in his body seemed to align and crackle with energy and power. The rest of the time, he wasn't much to look at. He reminded Gregor of one of those big baseball pitchers who kind of lumber around with their stomachs almost popping off their uniform buttons. You wouldn't bet they could make it around the bases without having to stop and catch their breath. But put them on the pitcher's mound and they'd fire off a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball that left the batter cross-eyed.**

Lizzie scowled at her brother for comparing Ripred to those "fattys".

**As if even slouching had been too much of an effort for him, Ripred slid down and lounged along the wall of the cave. "Yes, echolocation. Tell me what you know about it."**

**"I know bats use it. And dolphins, maybe. **

"Yes, dolphins use it. And toothed whales. And shrews, cave swiftlets, and oilbirds._[1]_" Lizzie informed the room.

"I should've taught her echolocation instead of you, Gregor," Ripred laughed. "She might've taken less time to teach."

Lizzie glowed from Ripred's praise.

**It's like radar. They make a sound and it bounces off of something and they can tell where it is without seeing it," said Gregor. "But people can't do that. I can't do that."**

**"Anybody can do it, to some extent. In the Overlander, some blind people use it with excellent results,"**

"That's right! They do, don't they?" Grace exclaimed.

**said Ripred. "The Underland humans don't give it much attention, but in this, they are fools.**

Luxa frowned. She had to admit, it did sound pretty impressive. Maybe she could have Gregor teach her . . .

**All the rest of us down here use it to some degree."**

**"You mean, the roaches and the spiders and –" started Gregor.**

**"All of us. Generations in the dark have helped the skill evolve. But if you could master even the most rudimentary elements of it, echolocation would be invaluable to you," said Ripred. "Say, for instance, if you lost your light in a cave with a rat."**

'_He's not going to . . ._' Grace thought desperately.

**Gregor saw Ripred's tail coming, and his hand lifted to block it, but the rat was ahead of him this t****ime. It was actually his hind foot that smacked the flashlight out of Gregor's hand and sent it spinning into the cave wall twenty feet away. **

Grace sighed. '_He is,_'

**The beam pointed into the stone, leaving them virtually in the dark.**

**Ripred's voice startled him. "And now I'm back here," the rat said from behind him. Gregor whipped around and, from somewhere off to his left, Ripred whispered, "Over here now."**

**The flashlight came spinning back across the floor and bumped into Gregor's feet. He picked it up and saw the rat was again slouching against the wall, on the far side of the cave from where the flashlight had been.**

"Oh, geez . . ." Mrs. Cormaci gasped. "That's . . . wow."

**"So teach me," Gregor said, unnerved.**

**Ripred began by having him close his eyes and make a clicking sound, bouncing his tongue off the roof of his mouth. Then he had to listen very carefully to how it sounded. It was supposed to sound differently when he directed it at Ripred. Then Ripred had him turn off his flashlight and click and point it wherever it sounded like the rat might be.**

"Which you failed at," Ripred said.

"You're just jealous because the dungeon was a better teacher than you," Gregor smirked.

"The dungeon?" Grace asked, and she wasn't the only one who looked confused.

"Um, it'll be in one of these books," Gregor stammered.

Grace scowled. Gregor seemed to be saying that a lot.

**He really did try, but he'd only had about three hours of sleep in the last two days, plus all the craziness of being back in the Underland and the prophecy and the training and –**

**"Focus, Overlander! This could save your life!" Ripred snarled as Gregor miscalculated his position for the tenth time in a row.**

**"This is stupid, Ripred – it all sounds the same to me!" Gregor snapped back. "I can't do it, okay?"**

**"No, not okay. You will practice. Every time you get a chance down here and when you go home, if you get home,**

Steve and Grace both frowned. They didn't like that.

**whenever you can," ordered Ripred. "You may not master it, but clearly you can only improve!"**

**"Okay. Fine. I'll practice. Are we done?" **

Luxa groaned. "Gregor, that was not the right thing to say," she said, having dealt with trainers like Ripred before.

Gregor grinned regretfully. "Yeah, I know."

**Gregor asked with some attitude. He'd about had it with t****he rat.**

**Suddenly Ripred's nose was inches from his own. The rat's eyes were narrowed in anger.**

**"Listen, Warrior," he hissed. "One day you will find that it matters not if you can hit three thousand blood balls if you cannot locate one in the dark. Understand?"**

**"Yeah," Gregor managed to get out. Ripred didn't move. "So, I'll practice. I will," said Gregor. "For real."**

**"Good. Now let's go get some sleep. We're both done in," said Ripred.**

Grace smiled. Ripred may be a tough teacher, but he knew when Gregor had to stop. She liked that.

**As they silently made their way back toward the city, Gregor wondered if Ripred would think twice about killing him. When they had been on the quest to get his dad, Ripred had kept him alive because they had mutual need: Gregor need Ripred to find his dad. Ripred needed Gregor to help defeat King Gorger so that he could be the leader of the rats someday. Ripred must still need Gregor for "The Prophecy of Bane." But when Gregor had stopped being of use to the rat, would he be expendable?**

Ripred felt Gregor's parents' eyes on him and he rolled his eyes. "You so pessimistic, Gregor." He said. "Don't you think that if either Solovet or Vikus thought you were in any danger from me, that they wouldn't let me near you?"

Gregor flushed. "I don't think that now," he said.

**Gregor's feet dragged as he climbed up the flights of stairs toward where he thought his bedroom was. It was very late here - probably about the time he'd come into the city the previous night - and everyone was asleep. He got lost and couldn't find anyone to give him directions. As he was wandering around, looking for a guard, he came upon the wooden door that shut off the room filled with Sandwich's prophecies.**

**The door was cracked open. This was strange; he thought they kept it locked all the time. Someone must be inside.**

**He pushed the door open wider and stepped in. "Hello? Anybody in here?"**

**At first he thought the room was empty. The lamp was still lit under "The Prophecy of Bane," but no one appeared to be reading it. Then he heard a faint rustling sound in the far corner, and she stepped into the light.**

"She?" Mrs. Cormaci sighed. "Surely you can be more descriptive than that, Gregor."

**"Oh!" Gregor jumped, not just because he was startled but because the sight of her was spooky. He had only seen Nerissa once.**

"Oh!" Lizzie gasped, much like her brother before her. She hadn't expected it to be Nerissa. She had thought it would be Luxa or something.

**She had been saying good-bye to her brother, Henry, as they left on the quest. He remembered she was very thin and seemed nervous. She had given him a copy of "The Prophecy of Gray" to take on his journey. Luxa had told him she could see the future or something.**

"Or something," Ripred agreed.

**If she had been thin before, she was now emaciated. Her eyes shone huge and hollow in the torchlight. Where Luxa had lilac circles under her eyes, Nerissa's were underscored with dark purple crescents. Her hair, which fell down far below her waist, was loose and tangled. Even though she was wrapped in a thick cloak, she acted like she was freezing.**

Grace frowned. "What's wrong with her?"

Everyone just shook their heads, as unsure as her.

**"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to - I'm just - I was just looking for sleeping - I mean, looking for where I sleep. My bedroom. Sorry." Gregor started to back out of the room.**

"Are you scared of a girl, Gregor?" Mrs. Cormaci asked, amused.

Gregor just shook his head. "You've never seen her,"

**"No, wait, Overlander," Nerissa said in a tremulous voice. "Stay a moment."**

**"Oh, okay, sure," Gregor said, wishing very badly he could get out of there. "So, how've you been, Nerissa?" he said, and then cringed. How did he think she'd been?**

**"I have been unwell," Nerissa said tiredly. But it was not self-pitying, which somehow made it sadder.**

**"Look, I'm sorry about your brother, about Henry," said Gregor.**

Luxa winced slightly.

**"I think it is best he is dead," said Nerissa.**

Grace frowned. "Why would she say something like that?"

"Nerissa . . . sees things in a different light than we do," Gregor answered cautiously.

Ripred snorted. "That's one way to put it. Crazy is another."

Luxa glared at him. "She's not crazy, Ripred."

"Whatever you say,"

**"You do?" Gregor said, taken aback by her bluntness.**

**"When one considers the alternatives," said Nerissa. "Had he been successful in banding with the gnawers, we would all be dead. You, your sister, your father. All of my people. Henry, too. But, of course, I miss him greatly."**

**Well, she might be a wreck, but Nerissa was not afraid to look things in the eye. "Do you know why he did it?" Gregor ventured to ask.**

**"He was afraid. I know that. And I think somehow in his mind he felt that joining with the rats would give him the security he longed for," said Nerissa.**

"But, how could . . ." Lizzie hesitated, not wanting to offend Luxa.

"Go on," Ripred prompted.

"H-how could he draw comfort from those who killed his parents?"

Everyone turned to Luxa, and she sighed. "I do not know. Only he did."

**"He was wrong," said Gregor.**

**"Was he?" Nerissa said, and she smiled.**

Mrs. Cormaci shuddered. This girl was a bit frightening.

**Which was extra spooky.**

**"I thought so. Didn't you just say . . . If he'd got his way, we'd all be dead?" said Gregor. Maybe she was kind of crazy, after all.**

Luxa turned in Gregor's lap and glared at him, too.

**"Oh, yes. His methods were undoubtedly flawed." Nerissa lost interest in their conversation and wandered over to "The Prophecy of Bane." Her bony fingers reached up and ran slowly across the letters, as if she were reading Braille. "And what of you, Warrior? Are you ready to face the Bane?"**

"No," Gregor whispered, looking down.

Luxa, facing him, heard him. Her face softened and she kissed him on the cheek.

**The Bane. Ripred had said something about the Bane. "You mean . . . the prophecy?" Gregor asked, confused.**

**"Vikus did not tell you? We call the white rat 'the Bane,'" said Nerissa. "Do you know what that means?"**

**"Not exactly," Gregor admitted.**

**"It means a scourge," said Nerissa.**

**Wow, that was helpful. **

"It should be," Ripred said.

**A scourge. "Still not clear," said Gregor.**

**"A calamity, an affliction." Nerissa searched his face for signs of understanding. "A very bad thing," she said finally.**

**"Oh, I got you," said Gregor. **

Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes. "Well, it's about time,"

**"Well, yeah, the rat. Vikus says I'm a threat to it or something. I'm supposed to help you guys kill it."**

**Nerissa looked bewildered. "Help us? Oh, no, Gregor, you must drain its light. See, it it written here." Her fingers rapidly passed over a line on the wall.**

Mrs. Cormaci frowned. Did this girl have OCD, or something?

**_WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?_**

**When Vikus had gone over the prophecy the night before, Gregor had been so consumed with the rats wanting to kill Boots, he hadn't focused much on this line. And Vikus hadn't elaborated. For the Underlanders, the word "light" was interchangeable with the word "life". So, when they talked about draining something's light, they meant killing it. The mission was to kill the Bane. He knew that. But Gregor had assumed the Underlanders would send a lot of soldiers with him. Trained soldiers.**

Gregor frowned. He wondered what would have happened if the Underlanders _had _sent soldiers with him. Or if he had allowed Howard and the others to come with him.

**The line pounded into his brain.**

**_WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?_**

**Gregor began to get a very bad feeling. "Oh, man," he said. "You mean, there's this giant white rat . . . and you guys expect me to . . . by myself . . . you mean, I'm supposed to . . ."**

**"Kill it, Gregor," said Nerissa. "The Bane must die by your hand alone."**

Grace looked upset, but she let Mrs. Cormaci usher her into the kitchen to make dinner.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Another chapter! Thanks to <em>Eulaliaaaa <em>for pointing out a mistake I made. I'll probably be fixing that later on.**

**[1] Credit goes to Wikipedia.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Part II The Hunt<strong>

Ripred passed the book to Luxa, who began to read.**  
><strong>

**Maybe you didn't actually have to sleep. Maybe it was something people got used to having, and thought they needed, but could really get by without. Gregor hoped so, because despite his complete state of exhaustion, he'd just spent the night without a wink of it.**

Grace groaned. Gregor was about to have to go on this huge journey and he hadn't gotten any sleep?

Luxa sat thoughtfully for a second. She supposed that with no sleep, she couldn't really blame him for being so tired when he was on his watch.**  
><strong>

**Mostly he'd been trying to imagine the big white rat he was supposed to kill by himself. A rat much larger and, presumably, stronger than Ripred. **

Ripred snorted. "He was also supposed to be clever," he pointed out, smiling.**  
><strong>

**So Gregor figured the Bane was at least twice as tall as he was and probably weighed, oh, nine or ten times as much. Who cared if Gregor could hit a bunch of blood balls? This thing would squash him like a fly.**

**Of course, Vikus hadn't gone into any detail about it. The same way he had never really spent much time dwelling on the fact that four of the twelve questers would be dead when "The Prophecy of Gray" was fulfilled. He had a way of sidestepping issues he thought Gregor couldn't handle. How long would Vikus have put off telling him he had to kill the Bane alone? As long as possible. Gregor pictured himself gaping in terror at the salivating white giant while Vikus tapped him on the shoulder and said in an upbeat voice, "Oh, yes, and by the way, according to Sandwich, you have to kill him single-handedly. Off you go, then!"**

Luxa smirked. Vikus did like to hold out on telling people things until the very last moment. It could become extremely annoying.**  
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**Gregor remembered when he was standing in Central Park, barely over a day ago, and how his biggest worry had been how they were going to afford Christmas presents. Nothing like one of Sandwich's prophecies to put your whole world in perspective.**

**He shifted his chin to the other hand and tried to focus on the babble of voices around the stone table. Vikus had called a council meeting to discuss his journey to find and kill the Bane. The council was a group of older Underlanders who would govern Regalia by committee until Luxa turned sixteen and was of age to rule.**

"Or until they all die," Luxa muttered despondently. **  
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**The only thing the members agreed on was that Gregor needed to get moving as soon as possible. Since the rats knew that Gregor and Boots were in the Underland again, they would surely take extra measures to conceal the Bane and hunt down his sister.**

**Apparently Regalian spies also had brand-new information and had just locked in on an area where they thought the white rat was hiding. Although none of them had personally seen the creature, their sources indicated a place called the Labyrinth. The word meant nothing to Gregor, but Ares whispered to him that a labyrinth was a maze. **

'_It'd be cool to try and get through a giant maze,_' Lizzie thought excitedly. '_Unless, of course, your life depended on it._'**  
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**Lizzie and her puzzle book flashed before his eyes. She would be so much better than he would at finding her way around a maze. Thinking of Lizzie made him think of the rest of his family waiting and wondering above, and the thought was unbearable.**

"**Yeah, let's get going. The sooner the better!" Gregor said, and everyone looked at him in surprise since it was the first thing he'd said all morning and the council was currently talking about which way to travel to the Labyrinth.**

Mrs. Cormaci snickered, though Grace was becoming even more worried about Gregor's lack of sleep.**  
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**Although they examined many options, every route that went through the web of Underland tunnels was judged too dangerous. While the humans controlled a much wider range of the Underland than they had before the war, the Labyrinth was situated in a remote corner of the rats' land. So remote, in fact, that most rats never even went there. But if they had the Bane there, it was sure to be guarded.**

"**That leaves the Waterway," Vikus said with a frown. "It is not ideal, but it is the least treacherous."**

"**What of the serpents? Their mating season is nigh,"**

Grace groaned again. Perfect, just what she needed to hear.**  
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** said Howard. Gregor didn't know why Luxa's cousin had been allowed in the meeting. He was just supposed to be on a family visit.**

Gregor glance at Luxa, the question clear in his eyes, but she shook her head. She didn't know, but she could guess. "It is possible he was there because he, too, would be going on the journey,"

Gregor nodded. It made sense.**  
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**A good point," agreed Vikus. "And yet another reason to begin the journey at once. Perhaps the party can slip by before the serpents awaken."**

'_We could've,_' Gregor thought. '_If it weren't for those stupid rats. Twitchtip would still be alive if it weren't for them._'

Luxa felt his unease, and leaned back against him.

"**Yippee, serpents," Gregor thought, and he remembered a twenty-foot spiked tail he'd seen flipping out of the Waterway when Ares was flying them home. He wondered what was attached to the tail.**

"**Now, Gregor, there is something we need to address," said Vikus. "It is the opinion of the council that Boots should remain under guard in Regalia while you pursue the Bane."**

**Gregor had anticipated this coming up. It would be terribly dangerous taking Boots on another Underland trip. But how could he leave her here when he had seen Ripred and Twitchtip get into the arena so easily? Sure, Ripred was extra smart,**

"Thanks, I do try," Ripred grinned.**  
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** but none of the rats seemed dumb. He and Boots would stay together, like his mom always told them to do.**

"**She's coming with me or I don't go. End of discussion,"**

Grace frowned. Half of her wanted to scold him for his attitude, and half of her wanted to praise him, for keeping Boots with him and out of harm's way.**  
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** said Gregor. He knew this sounded uppity, but at this point he was too tired to care.**

**There was a pause in which everyone glanced around, acknowledging that this had been out of line. But what were they going to do?**

**Vikus sent him off to prepare for the journey. He went to the museum to look for some light sources. The museum was full of stuff that had fallen from Gregor's world. There was a lot of cool, really old things, like a wheel from a horse-drawn carriage, an actual quiver still filled with arrows, a silver mug, a cuckoo clock, a top hat.**

Mrs. Cormaci grinned. Perhaps she would need to go down to the Underland after all. **  
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** More recent items, like wallets, jewelry, and watches, were neatly laid out in rows. There were lots of good flashlights, probably because anyone who had been in the tunnels below New York City would have needed one. Gregor selected four and dug out a lot of batteries.**

**A couple of life jackets caught his eye, and he took these, too. The last time, they had been traveling through stone tunnels. This time, he guessed they would be flying over the Waterway. Boots was too little to know how to swim. He added to his supplies a roll of duct tape and a couple of candy bars that didn't seem too stale.**

"Considering what I used them for, I don't think it'd matter if they'd been stale," Gregor thought aloud.

"Why, what did you use them for?" Luxa asked.

"It'll be in the book," he told her.

She huffed, but continued to read.**  
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**As he was leaving, he saw their regular clothes folded in two neat stacks by the door. Vikus must've said it was okay to keep them. Gregor didn't care what they smelled like; he was wearing his boots.**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled, glad that her gift had been so liked.**  
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**When he went by the nursery to collect Boots, he was told that Dulcet had already taken her down to the river. That was to be their departure point.**

**Gregor thought that made sense, since flying down the river had to be the quickest way to get to the Waterway. But when he reached the docks, he saw a team of Underlanders loading up two boats that were suspended by ropes at dock level above the river. They were long, narrow vessels that reminded him of boats he'd seen in the museum back home, boats Native Americans had used hundreds of years ago. But secured to the bottom of each was a large gray triangular fin - a real fish fin - that must've come off a whopper of a swordfish or something. Strapped along the sides of the boats were more fins that could be extended and retracted horizontally as needed. A curved bone was attached to the back of each boat as a rudder.**

Steve leaned forward as the description started. The Underland boats were so interesting.**  
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**"What's with the boats?" he asked Vikus, who was overseeing the loading. "Aren't we taking the bats?"**

**"Ah, yes, but the Waterway is vast and provides few hospitable places to rest. No bat would have the stamina to cross it, so much of your trip must be by sea," said Vikus.**

**Gregor didn't know much about boating except that, compared to flying, it was slow. It was going to take forever to get to the Bane by water.**

"As you were passed out for two of those days, it was not so long for you," Luxa pointed out.

Gregor nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right,"

Grace gasped. "Two days? Why was he passed out for two days?"

Mrs. Cormaci tried to sooth Grace. "You know that there's no point in asking. He'll just tell you that it's in the book," she pointed out.

Grace nodded dejectedly and kept working.**  
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**Just then, Twitchtip slunk out onto the dock. "Oh, great," thought Gregor. "I bet I end up riding with the crazy rat."**

Gregor flinched slightly at his own words.

Luxa felt Gregor's wince and, holding the book in one hand, took one of his hands and squeezed it.**  
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**Dulcet helped him secure the life jacket on Boots. It was too big, really, but they belted it on as best they could. Gregor wasn't sure what to do with the second jacket - he could swim pretty well - until he saw Temp shivering at the edge of the dock, looking at the churning river below.**

**"Hey, Temp, are you going with us?" he asked.**

**"Vikus says I may, he says," said Temp. So Gregor out the extra jacket on Temp. The bug allowed it because the princess was wearing one, too, and because Gregor got through to him that it would help him float.**

Lizzie smiled. Her brother could be really sweet sometimes.**  
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**As he stood up from strapping Temp in, he saw Luxa, Solovet, Mareth, and Howard come out of the palace. Luxa and Solovet were wearing gowns, not the long pants they had traveled in before.**

**"Wait a minute - you're going with us, right?" Gregor said to Luxa.**

**"No, Gregor, I cannot. I was only allowed to join you on your first quest because 'The Prophecy of Gray' dictated it. This has been deemed too unnecessarily dangerous for a queen," Luxa said, glancing at Vikus.**

**Gregor thought she at least could have put up an argument. Maybe even Luxa wasn't keen on chasing down the Bane. It made him kind of mad, though.**

Luxa frowned slightly. She had put up a fight. A huge fight in fact. Then her face softened. Gregor had had no way of knowing that. He was only making assumptions based of what he knew. She couldn't blame him for being a bit angry though.**  
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**"So, who's going, then?" asked Gregor.**

**"Well, first you should know that we had no lack of volunteers," Vikus said, as if to reassure Gregor that this was going to be a guaranteed good time. "But the openings were very limited. Besides yourself, Ares, Boots, Temp, and Twitchtip, we will be sending Mareth and Howard and their fliers."**

**"Howard?" said Gregor. He liked Mareth a lot, but he didn't want Luxa's cousin going along. Howard was part of that Fount crowd, and who knew if he'd ever even seen a rat - besides that dead one on the beach?**

**"Apart from being a most excellent fighter, he is well versed in the ways of water travel," said Solovet. "We are most fortunate his visit coincided with yours."**

**"Uh-huh," said Gregor. "So Ripred's not coming, either?" Nobody made him feel safer than Ripred . . . when he wasn't wondering if the big rat would kill him.**

Ripred sighed. He wondered when Gregor was going to get over his being-scared-of-Ripred phase.**  
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**"He left this morning for the Dead Land," said Vikus. "Oh, I see the boats are loaded! We had best get you on your way!"**

**Ares landed beside them. "The river is too hazardous. We will fly to the Waterway and then board the boats."**

**"Glad you're coming, anyway," Gregor muttered, shooting a resentful look at Luxa**

Luxa rolled her eyes, but smiled. He may have been mad that she had not been able to come, but that was better than him being _happy _that she would not be able to come.**  
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**and, while he was at it, Vikus. He climbed on Ares's back.**

**Dulcet handed Boots up to him with a slight sound of exertion. "Oh! Boots, you have been growing well!"**

**"I big girl! I ride bat! I ride bat!" Boots squealed in delight, bouncing in front of Gregor. On the first trip, Gregor had carried her in a backpack, but she was getting too big for that, especially with the life jacket.**

**"Temp ride, too!" said Boots. The cockroach scurried up behind them, his movements somewhat restricted by his bulky flotation device.**

**Twitchtip slid into one of the big boats and flattened herself in the middle. Her nose poked over the side, trying to catch the breeze that blew up the river. Gregor felt a twinge of sympathy for the rat. She might be the only one more miserable about this journey than he was.**

Lizzie frowned. She wondered why Gregor was so sympathetic towards Twitchtip, yet so fearful of Ripred.**  
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**Teams of bats lifted the two loaded boats by rope loops and started down the river. As Ares took off after them, Gregor wrapped his arms tightly around Boots. He was becoming familiar with the journey now, the fading lights of Regalia, the glimmer as they passed the crystal-walled beach where he had had his first encounter with rats, and finally the wide-open expanse of the Waterway.**

**They flew a few miles out over the Waterway before the teams of bats lowered the boats into the water and took off. Howard's bat landed in the boat with Twitchtip. Ares settled in the second boat, as did Mareth's bat.**

**"This is Andromeda. She is my bond," Mareth said, touching his hand to the wing of his gold-and-black-speckled bat. Gregor remembered Mareth had been riding her during the rat fight back on the crystal beach. She'd been so badly injured that she had not come on "The Prophecy of Gray" trip. Gregor still felt kind of responsible for that fight because it had happened when he'd tried to escape.**

**"Hey, nice to meet you," he said. Did she still blame him for that night?**

**"I am honored to meet you also, Overlander," she said. Maybe, like Mareth, she had forgiven him.**

**Mareth also introduced him to Howard's bond, Pandora, a graceful bat with beautiful rusty red fur. **

Gregor and Luxa both looked saddened at the mention of Pandora. Boots, too, seemed slightly subdued.**  
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**All she said to him was "Greetings."**

**Vikus had flown out after them to bid them goodbye. "Gregor, I forgot to deliver you this," he called. His large gray bat swooped over Gregor's boat, and something fell to the floor. Gregor picked up a scroll and found a copy of "The Prophecy of Bane" written in Nerissa's elegant hand.**

**"Fly you high!" Vikus headed back toward Regalia, giving them an encouraging wave. Gregor managed a nod back.**

**Boots was wiggling madly to get out of Gregor's arms. Letting her loose in the boat made him nervous, but he couldn't hold her for days at a time. He set her down on the floor with strict instruction to "Stay in the boat!"**

**Fortunately the vessel was so deep that she couldn't get out, anyway. When Gregor stood in the middle, the sides rose up to his shoulders. It was about twenty feet long and made of some kind of animal hide stretched down the center of the boat. About a third of the way from the front of the boat, Mareth hoisted a wooden mast into the air and secured it at the hinged base. It was only the second wooden object Gregor had seen used in the Underland, the first being the door to Sandwich's room. There were a few seats fashioned from leather, and a lot of supplies. **

Again, Steve showed interest in the boats' design.

**Especially food.**

**"Are we really going to eat all of this?" asked Gregor. **

**"Not by ourselves. But the shiners will require a great deal of food," said Mareth.**

'_Shiners?_' Grace wondered.

Mrs. Cormaci smirked. "Sounds like slang for 'moonshiners',"_[1]_**  
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**"The shiners?" said Gregor.**

**"Vikus did not tell you?" began Mareth.**

**Gregor wondered how many times he was going to hear that in the next few days.**

**"On long voyages, we cannot carry enough fuel to provide light. So we hire shiners to aid us," said Mareth. "They should be here directly - yes, see . . . here they come now."**

**Gregor looked out into the dark and spotted two points of light. They went out, and then turned on again, closer this time. As the flickering light continued to approach, he could make out the forms of flying insects. By the time the two giant bugs had landed on the bows of the boats, he had identified them.**

**"Oh, they're fireflies!" he said.**

'_Oh!_' Grace thought in surprise, only now remembering her son's description of shiners.**  
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** Back at his dad's family's farm in Virginia, they flew at the edge of the woods at night. Their little twinkling lights made the whole place look magical. The three-foot-tall versions perched on the boat weren't nearly so enchanting. But he had to admit that when their butts lit up, they put out some light.**

**"Greetings, Shiners," said Mareth with a bow.**

**"Greetings, all," one of the fireflies said in a high and impossibly whiny voice. **

Lizzie shuddered. Voices like that got on her nerves.**  
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**"I am he called Photos Glow-Glow and she is Zap."**

"It's Fo-Fo and Zap!" Boots shrieked in delight.

Immediately Gregor and Luxa cracked up.

"Fo-Fo?" Mrs. Cormaci wondered, smiling. "What a fabulous name."**  
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**"It was my turn to make the introduction," wailed Zap. "Photos Glow-Glow made it last time."**

**"But we both know that, as a male, I am more visually pleasing to humans," Photos Glow-Glow said, his rear end blinking in a variety of colors. "Zap can only make one color, and it is yellow."**

**"I hate you!" shrieked Zap.**

**And Gregor knew this was going to be the longest trip of his life.**

Gregor groaned, remembering the two annoying shiners.

"Dinner!" Grace called out, and, like every meal, everyone ran into the kitchen.**  
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* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been swamped with homework. Updates will most likely take longer now. :(<br>**

**I dedicate this chapter to my little brother, Jack. He turns twelve today and I just want him to know that I don't think he's completely useless. ;) Not that he's every gonna' see this, but oh well.  
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**[1] I'm related to moonshiners. Moonshiners created Nascar. Moonshiners rock.  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.  
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* * *

><p>After a fantastic dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and after Luxa had gotten all of her words explained, everyone went back into the living room, where, after Grace informed them that this was the last chapter before bed, Gregor began to read.<strong><br>**

**Gregor had never bitten his nails before, but he started doing it about five minutes after the fireflies arrived. They were unbelievable! They argued about where they would sit, they argued about who should take the first shift, they even argued about whose servant Temp should be since he was obviously just a no-account crawler, until the roach spoke up with uncharacteristic force, "Only the princess, Temp serves, only the princess."**

Ripred whistled. "If they got Temp upset, they must've been pretty bad,"

"You have no idea," Luxa muttered.**  
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**Mareth tried to feed them to distract them, but they just bickered about each other's table manners.**

"**Must you talk with your mouth full, Zap?" Photos Glow-Glow said. "It kills my appetite."**

"As if anything could destroy the appetite of a shiner!" Luxa laughed disdainfully.**  
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"**This from someone who just sat in his milk!" Zap said, and apparently she had him there, because his rear end went bright red in anger, and he chomped on a mushroom in silence for at least thirty seconds.**

"Thirty seconds of bliss," Gregor sighed. Something in his tone told Grace that he wasn't exaggerating.**  
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"**Are they always like this?" Gregor whispered to Mareth.**

"**In truth, these two are not as bad as some others I have traveled with," whispered back Mareth. "I once saw a pair try to fight to the death over a piece of cake."**

"They only tried to?" Lizzie asked.**  
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"**Try to?" said Gregor.**

"**They are not very capable fighters, and they tire quickly. So they ended up accusing each other of cheating, and giving up. Then they sulked for several days," said Mareth.**

Mrs. Cormaci shook her head, disgusted. "That's just awful."**  
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"**So we really need them?" asked Gregor.**

"**Unfortunately, yes," said Mareth.**

**Even Boots, who had stationed herself on the floor of the boat to roll a ball around with Temp, seemed aggravated by the newcomers.**

"**Fo-Fo, too loud!" she said, tugging on one of his wings. "Shh, Fo-Fo!"**

Mrs. Cormaci laughed. "So that's where that awful name originated from!" she exclaimed.**  
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"**Fo-Fo? Fo-Fo? I am he called Photos Glow-Glow and will answer to no other name!" said Photos Glow-Glow.**

"Oh, shut up, Fo-Fo," Mrs. Cormaci gasped with laughter.

Gregor and Luxa exchanged quick glances, each trying to smother their own laughter.**  
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"**She's just a little kid. She can't say Photos Glow-Glow," said Gregor.**

"**Well, then, I cannot understand her!" said the firefly.**

"**Allow me to translate," Twitchtip said, not even bothering to move. "She said if you don't stop your incessant babble, that big rat sitting in the boat next to you will rip your head off."**

Mrs. Cormaci continued her laughter, and Ripred smiled, too, this time.**  
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**The silence that followed was blissful. Gregor felt positively friendly toward Twitchtip, and decided he wouldn't mind riding in her boat at all.**

"So that is all it takes to gain your trust?" Luxa asked Gregor, amused.

"Of course. I don't trust a single person in this room, as they have not gotten a shiner to be quiet as long as Twitchtip has," Gregor replied with a grin.

Luxa's grin lessened for a moment as she said, "I did. When I gave them a feast for . . . returning you,"

Gregor smiled sadly and whispered in her ear, "Then I'd trust you with my life,"

She smiled and snuggled up against his chest.

As Gregor began to read, Grace watched Luxa snuggled up against her son sadly.**  
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**They were far out into the Waterway now. The torches had been extinguished when the shiners arrived, and the fireflies' glow only illuminated the immediate area. Gregor snapped on his best flashlight for a minute and shone it around. All signs of land had vanished.**

**There were waves, too, now. And even a decent breeze. **

Steve frowned, pondering how that could be.**  
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**Mareth and Howard ran silken sails up the masts and were preoccupied with steering the two vessels. Their bats settled comfortably together and dozed off. Gregor noticed that Ares didn't join them. On the first quest, all the bats had gathered in a clump to sleep together after the flights. But maybe Ares wasn't welcome now.**

Mrs. Cormaci frowned, a scowl appearing on her face.**  
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"**Hey, Ares, do you know how long it will take us to get to the Labyrinth in this boat?" asked Gregor.**

"**At least five days," said Ares. "If we flew, we could make it in less time, but it is believed that very few bats could make the journey. No one had ever tried it."**

"**I bet you could make it," said Gregor. He meant it, too. **

Mrs. Cormaci smiled now. Gregor could be really sweet when he wanted to be.**  
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**Henry hadn't chosen Ares just because he was a troublemaker; the bat was also impressively strong and swift.**

"**I have thought that I might try it someday, to see if I could accomplish it," admitted Ares.**

"**Like Lindbergh. He's the first guy who flew across the Atlantic Ocean by himself," said Gregor.**

Lizzie smiled, impressed that her brother had actually been paying attention when she's been telling him about Lindbergh.**  
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"**He had wings?" asked Ares.**

"**Well, mechanical ones. He was a person. He had a plane. That's a machine that flies. Now people fly across the ocean all the time in great big planes, but not when Lindbergh was flying," said Gregor.**

"**He is famous, in the Overland?" asked Ares.**

"**Yeah, I mean, he was. He's dead now, but he was real famous. People were mad at him, too. Because of something about a war," Gregor said, unsure about that part. There was a sad thing, too, about a baby. But he couldn't remember that exactly, either.**

Lizzie's smile became less pronounced. '_Well at least he payed enough attention to remember Lindbergh's name__,_' she thought.**  
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**Gregor picked up the scroll with "The Prophecy of Bane" and opened it.**

_**DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,**_

_**DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART.**_

**He let the scroll snap shut. He looked at Boots, who was quietly singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" while she drummed on Temp's shell.**_[1]_** She was so perfect, somehow, in that way little kids are perfect. So innocent. How did anyone think they were going to solve anything by killing her?**

Ripred frowned. Did Gregor not realize that his own thoughts were proof that the rats could gain a lot by killing her?**  
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** And yet at this moment, Gregor knew squads of rats were scouring the Underland to do just that.**

"**Can rats swim?" Gregor asked, peering out into the water.**

"**Yes, but not as far out as we are. The rats cannot reach her here," Ares said, following his thoughts.**

Lizzie tilted her head thoughtfully. '_Vikus said something earlier about bonds having a sort of connection. At the time, Gregor scoffed at the idea. But now . . ._'

**But eventually they would have to land. And there would be the Bane.**

"**Have you ever killed a rat?" asked Gregor.**

"**Not alone. Together with Henry, yes. I flew while he held the sword," said Ares.**

**Then Gregor remembered he had seen the rat Fangor die on Henry's sword, back on that crystal beach. But it was sort of a blur.**

"**How do you do it? I mean, where exactly is it best to . . . where do you stab it?" The words felt strange in his mouth.**

Grace tensed, hating the idea of her little boy asking a question like that.**  
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"**The neck is vulnerable. The heart, but one must get past the ribs. Through the eyes to the brain. Under the foreleg is a vein that bleeds greatly. If you strike at the belly, you may not kill it instantly, but the rat will likely die within days from infection," said Ares.**

Grace tensed even more, remembering how Gregor had named at least three of these five things.**  
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"**I see," said Gregor. But he didn't. That is, he couldn't really see himself doing it. Killing the giant white rat. The whole thing was surreal.**

"**Is it okay if I'm riding you? Or do I have to be on the ground?" asked Gregor.**

"**I will be there, if it is at all possible," said Ares.**

"**Thanks," said Gregor. "Sorry I got you into this mess."**

"**You also freed me from one," said Ares. And they left it at that.**

Lizzie smiled. She wished she'd gotten to meet Ares.**  
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**Mareth called a dinner break and passed around food. The fireflies ate with gusto, even though they had just been fed.**

**After everyone had eaten, Mareth lowered the sails in his boat and hooked the front of his craft to the back of Howard's with a towrope. "Howard and I will take turns sailing the lead boat while the rest sleep. But we need someone on guard and one shiner on duty at all times."**

"**Zap will take the first shift," said Photos Glow-Glow. "My light requires more energy."**

"Unbelievable," Luxa muttered angrily. "He's making up lies, just so he doesn't have to do as much!"

"**It is a lie!" howled Zap. "I can only make one color, but the effort is the same. He only says this so that he will be given more food and less work!"**

"**Photos Glow-Glow will take the first shift," said Twitchtip. "Or I'll shred his wings into ribbons."**

Mrs. Cormaci chuckled. "Twitchtip doesn't seem to like the fireflies,"

"What could possibly have given you that idea?" Ripred smirked.**  
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** So that settled that. "Who wants to watch with him?"**

"**We are many and can switch guards every two hours or so," said Mareth.**

**Gregor was wiped out, but he hated the idea of being woken up after an hour or two of sleep and then having to be on guard, so he volunteered to go first.**

Luxa groaned. "Gregor, you should have slept. You have already gone a night without sleep, you are exhausted. There was no way you were going to make it through the whole watch,"

Gregor frowned. "Yeah, I know," he sighed.**  
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**In the lead boat, Howard took his place by the rudder to steer. His bat folded its wings to sleep. Twitchtip, who had barely moved since they left Regalia, closed her eyes. Zap's soft yellow light faded out, and she began to snore.**

**Gregor took off Boots's life jacket, wrapped her snuggly in a blanket, and settled her down next to Temp in the stern of their boat. Ares perched next to them. Mareth stretched out on the floor, with Andromeda nearby. Photos Glow-Glow turned his bulb to a steady orange light and lit on the bow, a few feet in front of Mareth, illuminating the space between the boats.**

**Gregor sat on a pile of supplies and laid his forearm across the side of the boat. It was quiet except for the lapping of the waves, soft breathing, and firefly snores. The rocking of the boat had a hypnotic effect. His eyelids felt leaden.**

Luxa frowned. Just hearing the words were making her tired, though it was getting to be pretty late. If Gregor had not slept in a while . . . it was no wonder he fell asleep. **  
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**He had barely slept in days . . . the rats were after Boots . . . maybe he could just rest his head on his shoulder . . . he had to kill Ripred**_[2]_

Ripred glanced at Gregor, amused.**  
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**. . . no, the Bane . . . he had to kill the Bane . . . how many nights had he been down here? . . . he had to kill somebody . . .**

Grace tensed even further. She hated her little boy having thoughts like that.**  
><strong>

**Boots's cold little hand was wrapping around his wrist. "What, Boots?" he murmured. She was squeezing him now. Squeezing him hard. "What? You need a blanket?"**

Lizzie frowned, confused. "But the book said that you 'wrapped her snuggly in a blanket'. You even took off her life jacket,"

**He tried to pull his arm away. Her fingers dug in deeper, creeping up his arm, causing real pain. **

Lizzie sat, lost in thought. '_Boots wouldn't do that. If she thought Gregor was ignoring her, she'd start calling him, not squeezing him. But, if it's not Boots, then who . . ._'**  
><strong>

**Gregor's eyes flew open. Boots was sleeping peacefully next to Temp, yards away from him. He twisted his head to the side.**

**Curled around his forearm was a slimy red tentacle.**

Lizzie squeaked in fright.

Grace sighed. What a wonderful chapter to end on. She knew she probably shouldn't end here, but it was so late, and Boots was already asleep. Sighing, she sent everyone to bed, though she knew when everyone woke up, they'd find Luxa sleeping with Gregor, and Lizzie curled up on the floor by Ripred.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>[1] Aww, little buggy back-massage!<strong>

**[2] He wouldn't dare! :'( If he did, he'd have to face my wrath! (Along with millions of other Ripred-lovers ;) I know you're out there)**

**Yay! I got another update in!  
><strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

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><p>As Grace had expected, Luxa was sleeping wrapped up in Gregor's arms, her head tucked up underneath his chin. She sighed sadly. '<em>They're only twelve. They shouldn't be sleeping like this!<em>' she thought desparately. But she knew that until they had finished these books, and she'd gotten all the facts that her son had conveniently left out, she really wasn't going to do anything about it. She sighed sadly and walked into the kitchen, starting to make breakfast.

About fifteen minutes later, everyone had woken up at the smell of pancakes and had come running into the room, Mrs. Cormaci scolding Grace for not letting her help and Luxa fondly teasing Gregor for his bedhair, and then making it worse by ruffling it up.

About five minutes later, everyone was back in the main room, Lizzie, Boots, Gregor, and Luxa still in their pajamas._[1] _Grace, after sadly and silently watching Luxa settle herself into Gregor's lap, picked up the book and began to read.

"**Aah!" Gregor had just enough time to let out a yell before the tentacle gave a terrific yank. He flew over the side of the boat and would have gone straight into the water if one of his boots hadn't caught on the edge. **

"Thanks for those, by the way, Mrs. Cormaci," Gregor smiled at the woman.

"No problem, Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci smiled, but inwardly she was shocked that her gift had saved Gregor's life. '_I need to give him boots more often!_' she thought.

**"Ares!" A second yank pulled him headfirst, under the water up to his waist. **

Grace scowled. Her son had pleasantly forgot to mention that the giant squid that had attacked the boats had nearly drowed him. What else had he 'forgotten' to tell them?

**He managed to get a good breath of air before he submerged. His legs were sliding under, too, now. He could feel the cold water climbing over his thighs, his knees, his ankles - oh! Someone had him by the feet and was pulling back!**

**A tug-of-war ensued, with Gregor as the rope. **

"Souns like fun!" Ripred chuckled.

"Oh, yes," Gregor rolled his eyes. "You should try it sometime!"

"Hmm," Ripred pretended to think about it. "No, I think I'll refrain."

"Smart rat," Mrs. Cormaci muttered.

**For a dreadful minute it was touch-and-go, with the creature dragging him deeper and Ares dragging him back out. Gregor beat at the tentacle with his free hand, but it didn't seem to have much effect. Finally he got his mouth up to his arm and sank his teeth into the tentacle as deeply as he could.**

Lizzie shuddered. "That's so gross! Biting a squid!"

"Well," Luxa smiled. "Shiners consider squid to be a delicacy. Especially if it is raw."

Gregor shuddered. "I think I'll respectfully disagree,"

"You're dislike of squid is dully noted," Ripred said.

"Oh, no!" Mrs. Cormaci said. "And we were going to have Japanese tonight! Oh, well." she sighed, shaking her head.

**He didn't know if he did any real damage, but he surprised the animal enough for it to loosen its grip a bit.**

"I'd be surprised too, if you ever bit me," Ripred snorted.

"And why would Gregor ever bite you?" Luxa wondered.

"Oh, you never know," Gregor smiled. "I've never had rat. But with the right sauce . . . who knows?"

Ripred and Luxa immediately cracked up, Mrs. Cormaci following soon after, leaving Gregor's family to grin in confused amusement.

**Just then Ares gave a big heave-ho and Gregor flew out of the water, coughing and gasping for air. He dangled upside down a moment, his boots locked in Ares's claws, before the bat dropped him on the floor of the boat. Gregor retched, and a gush of water rushed out of his mouth. He vaguely noticed it was salty, like the ocean.**

_'That's odd,_' Steve thought.

"**Overlander!" he heard Mareth cry. "Can you fight?"**

"Yes," Gregor snorted.

"The question is," Luxa smiled.

"Can he stop?" Ripred shook his head, grinning.

Grace frowned. When was the description of a rager going to show up in the book? When it did, Gregor wouldn't be able to push the conversation off any longer.

**Fight? Gregor struggled onto his hands and knees and got his first good look at their situation.**

**Tentacles were shooting up over the sides of the boat right and left, their suckers latching onto anything they came into contact with.**

Grace and Lizzie shuddered. It was like a horror movie come to life, and they weren't even there!

**The crew was fighting back with whatever they had - swords,**

"The humans," Luxa pointed out.

**teeth, claws,**

"Twitchtip," Ripred nodded.

"And the bats," Lizzie added.

**pincers **

Everyone just looked at each other in confusion. Pincers?

"Perhaps Temp's mandibles?" Lizzie suggested.

Everyone nodded. It made sense.

**- trying to sever the appendages from the ghastly creatures **

"Creatures?" Grace asked. "There was more than one?"

She frowned as Gregor nodded. This was certainly new. When he'd told them the story, he'd made it seem as though there was only one squid, albeit a very large one. He'd never actually said that in so many words, of course. Grace's frowned deepened. Gregor seemed to be rather good at leaving things out.

**looming in the dark water beneath them.**

"**Catch!" he heard Mareth yell, and he saw a sword flying at him. **

Lizzie squeaked. "He threw a sword at you?"

"Yeah, so?" Gregor asked.

"'Yeah so?' He threw a sword at you!"

"I caught it," Gregor shrugged.

"And if you hadn't?" Grace narrowed her eyes at the possibilty.

Gregor opened his mouth to respond, and realized he couldn't think of anything.

Ripred, however, could. "Then he would've been in trouble,"

Grace scowled at the rat, and turned back to the book.

**He grabbed it out of the air by the handle just in time to slice through a tentacle that had encircled his ankle.**

Mrs. Cormaci grinned. That sounded like something you'd see in one of those pirate movies.

**Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were blazing. But even without their help, Gregor could have seen by the light of the water, which shone an unearthly phosphorescent green. "Squid! It's some kind of squid!" he shouted.**

Lizzie grinned. '_Well, at least he listened to my squid "lecture" as he so kindly called it,_'

**The three bats were in flight, diving down and ripping with their claws. Mareth and Howard were slashing away with their swords. Twitchtip was a whirlwind of gnashing teeth.**

"**Overlander, your sister!" he heard Ares warn.**

Grace leaned forward, both in inticipation and fear.

**Gregor turned to see Temp, standing over the still-sleeping Boots. The roach's mandibles were snapping away at the intruders. **

Lizzie grinned. She knew she had liked that roach for a reason.

**He was disabling many tentacles, but they kept coming. Three grabbed on to the cockroach's life jacket and pulled him into the water, leaving Boots completely unprotected. As Ares dove in to battle for Temp, a particularly large tentacle whipped over the stern.**

The grin faded off of Lizzie's face as she shuddered in fear. '_Now it really sounds like something you'd see in a horror film. At least Boots was asleep,_'

**When Gregor saw the suckers latch on to Boots's blanket, it happened again: the strange phenomenon that had occurred with the blood balls.**

"Is there any sort of pattern to it?" Lizzie asked.

"None that anyone is aware of," Ripred told her.

"That sucks," Mrs. Cormaci frowned sympathetically. It sounded awesome, being perfectly able to protect yourself and everyone around you if the need arised, but if you weren't able to control when you turned into a killer . . .

**The greater world receded, and it was as if nothing but he and the tentacles existed. Around him, somewhere, there were voices, and thuds, and glowing green water being beaten to a frothy foam. But all he was really aware of was the attackers. His sword began to move - not in a premeditative way, but with some instinctive precision and force utterly beyond his control. **

Grace frowned. That paragraph had certainly been more descriptive than her son, but that didn't seem to be a good thing.

**He hacked away at tentacle after tentacle and -**

"**Overlander!" He heard Mareth's voice reach out for him. "Overlander, enough!" He didn't stop.**

"It's a wonder you even heard him, this being your first time actually fighting something," Ripred said.

"Why wouldn't he have been able to hear Mareth?" Grace asked the giant rat.

"His rager side would have deemed the noise . . . unimportant. As it would not have helped him in the fight against the squid, the noise should have been canceled out. But he was still able to hear him." Ripred explained. "This means either Mareth is very loud, or Gregor won't have as much trouble as I thought at being able to control his rager abilities."_[2]_

"Oh," Grace said softly.

"**Ge-go, no hitting! No hitting!" he heard. Boots was crying.**

"Oh dear," Grace whispered.

**The world zoomed back into perspective. Gregor was standing in the middle of the boat. Severed tentacles flopped on the floor around him. His breath was coming in short, rasping gasps.**

Grace gasped quietly. The way it was described made it seem almost . . . frightening. Not being able to remember what you did during a fight. She felt a sudden surge of sympathy and concern for her son, as well as understanding why he didn't seem to want to talk about it.

**Mareth grabbed his shoulders and gave him a sharp shake. "They are going. It is over."**

**Gregor's arm, the one the squid had caught, not the one holding the sword, throbbed. Four angry red circles, sucker marks, swelled on his forearm****.**

Grace gasped again, louder this time. "Were you okay?" she asked desperately, forgetting, in her worry, that Gregor had told her he'd been posoined by the squid.

"Um, well," Gregor seemed hesitant to reassure her, though Grace didn't seem to notice. "I'm fine now."

**He was drenched in sweat and seawater and squid slime.**

"**Ge-go, no hitting! Go home! Boots go home!" came from behind him.**

**He turned out of Mareth's grasp and saw her sitting, still half-tangled in her blanket, sobbing, but unharmed. Muck from the squid had splattered her as well. Temp sat next to her. He was missing two legs. **

"Oh! Is he alright?" Lizzie asked, worried.

"Temp okay!" Boots said brightly. "He grow more legs!" Then she started chattering away in Crawler, much to Gregor and Luxa's amusement.

**Gregor tossed away the sword, reached out for Boots, and held her tightly. "Hey, you're okay. You're okay, baby. Don't cry."**

"**Ge-go, Boots, go home. See Mama," she sobbed. "Ma-ma! Ma-ma!"**

"Oh, dear," Grace said sadly. Her baby had needed her and she hadn't been able to help!

"It's okay, Mama! I okay now!" Boots squeaked, thankfully in Human.

To Boots extreme confusion, this didn't seem to help, as tears fell down 'Mama's' face.

**That was her ultimate cry of distress. When she was upset and none of the rest of them could fix it. "Mamaa!"**

**Gregor sunk down on a seat and rocked her back and forth, patting her back, and trying to soothe her with words. How much had she seen? And what had she seen him do?**

Luxa's eyes widened. She had seen Gregor fight when he was in rager mode, and, to put it nicely, it was something she did _not _want the little girl to witness.

**While he held her on his lap, Howard appeared with a pail of water and cleaned her off. Somehow he distracted her with some silly rhyme about washing her toes.**

"_**TWO TINY ROWS,**_

_**OF FIVE TINY TOES,**_

_**GIVE BOOTS TEN GOOD REASONS TO WIGGLE HER NOSE."**_

Gregor grinned. He had grown to love that little song, especially after Boots had finally returned to the palace.

**At this point, Howard would press her foot against his nose, sniff her toes, and go, "Whew!" as if the smell about knocked him out.**

"_**WIGGLE YOUR NOSE,**_

_**AT EIGHT, NINE, TEN TOES,**_

_**THEN GIVE THEM A BATH SO EACH TINY TOE GLOWS."**_

**Boots began to laugh between sobs, especially whenever Howard said "Whew!" and soon she was completely caught up in trying to say the rhyme with him. **

Grace grinned through her tears. She had met the young man while in the hospital and had grown to like him. She liked him even more now that she had heard that he had comforted her daughter, when she hadn't been able to.

**Gregor had spent a lot of time amusing his little sisters. He recognized a good toddler bit when he saw it.**

"**You make that up?" he asked Howard.**

"**Yes. For Chim. It was always hard to get her to take baths," said Howard, avoiding his gaze. It crossed Gregor's mind that he had not been particularly nice to Howard. He had lumped him in with Stellovet and the other cousins, but Howard hadn't liked what his sister had said to Luxa about Henry. And he had not bragged about their dad being in charge at the Fount.**

**They got Boots dressed in fresh clothes and gave her a cookie. She trotted off to teach the rhyme to Temp, who lacked not only toes, but legs.**

Lizzie frowned at the reminder that the sweet little crawler had been hurt.

"**Temp, do you need some bandages, or medicine?" asked Gregor.**

"**No. More legs, I will grow, more legs," said Temp. He didn't seem too upset about the loss.**

Mrs. Cormaci grinned. "He's probably one of the only people in the world who could say something like that!"

"I'd be slightly worried if people in hospitals world-wide started telling the doctors, 'It's alright, Doctor. I'll just grow new legs!'" Gregor laughed.

"That would certainly make front-page news!" Mrs. Cormaci chuckled.

**Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were uninjured **

"Of course," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes.

**and very pleased with the bounty of squid parts that littered the boat. Apparently, squid was a real delicacy for fireflies, **

"See?" Luxa laughed.

"Well, apparently it's not a delicacy for little boys named Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci sighed, mock-upset.

**and the two had no time to squabble as they embarked in a heated race to see who could wolf down the most.**

**Andromeda and Twitchtip had a couple of sucker marks, but Gregor's were the worst, as the squid had held on to him the longest and he had no fur to protect his skin. As they all cleaned the slime off their bodies, he saw the swollen red circles were beginning to ooze pus. His whole body felt hot and shaky.**

"Oh, no!" Grace gasped. "Gregor you need to sit down, rest, take some medicine, and -"

She was interrupted by Steve. "Dear, this has already happened,"

Grace glanced at him, startled out of her rant, and nodded, slowly beginning to read.

"**I think maybe it poisoned me or something," Gregor said, and suddenly his knees gave way and he was lying in the boat. Everything was swimming around. Someone pressed something against his lips and ordered him to swallow. He managed to obey just before he blacked out.**

Grace was now extremely pale. She got even paler as Ripred said, "You're extremely lucky you didn't pass out before they got the medicine in you,"

She decided she didn't want to know why.

**A fevered dream followed. He was submerged in bubbly fluorescent green water, wrestling with writhing tentacles, while hideous fish dug their fangs into his arm again and again. His whole family watched over the side of the boat, reaching for him, trying to pull him to safety. He screamed to Boots to get back, but she kept singing the rhyme about her toes. Temp appeared in the water beside him, bobbing around in his life jacket. He pulled off his legs, offering them to Gregor. At some point, thankfully, he sank into nothingness.**

At this point, everyone but Luxa and Ripred was staring at Gregor oddly. Luxa and Ripred didn't, because they understood slightly better than the others what fevered dreams could be like.

**When he came to, he could tell that a lot of time had passed. His arm was bandaged and pulsating with pain. It hurt to open his eyes.**

**And when he did, he had a moment of confusion.**

**For there, sitting in the bow of the boat and smiling down at him, was Luxa.**

Grace frowned. "How much time had passed?"

"Around two days," Luxa told her.

"Oh," Grace whispered as she passed the book over to her husband.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so<strong>**rry it's taken so long. I can unashamedly blame school and my own procrastination. Well, here it is. Hopefully it's to your liking.**

**Oh, and please tell me if you notice any mistakes. The wordcheck on the computer is messed up.**

**[1] Just pretend Luxa brought clothes with her.**

**[2] Yeah, I pretty much made that all up on the spot. I tried to make it match the book though!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.**

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><p>Steve took the book from Grace and began to read.<p>

"**I let you go off for one day, and look at the trouble you get into," Luxa said.**

"**I bet I know somebody else who's in trouble," Gregor croaked with a smile.**

"What? Who?" Luxa smirked, trying, and failing, to look innocent.

"**Much trouble," he heard Mareth say behind him. Gregor didn't have to turn his head to see the soldier's expression. He was angry.**

"Hmm. I have noticed that some people do not want me on these quests with them," Luxa remarked, with a pointed look up at Gregor.

"Well, when you consider what happened at the end of this quest, it isn't too surprising," Ripred laughed at Gregor's guilty expression. _[1]_

"**I cannot go back," Luxa said with satisfaction. "It is too far now, and Aurora and I would most surely perish in the deep."**

"You don't have to sound so happy about that," Gregor mumbled in Luxa's ear, ingnoring the shiver it caused.

"**Yes, you timed that nicely," said Mareth.**

"**I know," said Luxa.**

"But what if you hadn't timed it right?" Lizzie asked. "What if you had missed the boat?"

There was silence for a moment as everyone contemplated this.

"Well, it didn't happen," Grace said after a while. "Luxa and Aurora survived and made it to the boat. No use obsessing over what might've been."

"**I know you know. Everyone will know you knew if you ever arrive home in one piece to tell the tale," **

Luxa looked down guiltily at that.

**said Mareth. Gregor had never thought much about Mareth's relationship with Luxa. She was his queen, or would be when she turned sixteen, but there was another side to it he recognized after the day of training. Mareth was his coach, and he wasn't afraid to chew her out.**

"He never has been," Luxa smiled regretfully.

"**Oh, Mareth, how long are you to stay angry with me?" said Luxa. "It has been at least a day already. No one will blame you for my disobedience."**

"**That is much beside the point, Luxa!" barked Mareth. "This venture is extremely dangerous, and what if you die? **

Gregor tensed then, remembering how he'd felt after the quest, thinking that, in one go, his smallest sister, a rat he'd come to appreciate and respect; even like, and his best friend and her bat had all been killed.

Luxa felt Gregor tense up and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

**You leave Regalia with Nerissa as a leader, and she is of age. Can you imagine what will happen then? To Regalia? To Nerissa?"**

"**She will have to abdicate," Howard said from somewhere in the other boat.**

"**She will do no such thing. She will rule if I die and not Vikus, and never you and your wretched sister!" said Luxa.**

**There was a shocked silence. Then Howard spoke. "Is this what you think? That I want to be king? I believe you have me confused with another cousin."**

**Ouch. It was another allusion to Henry. But this time, Gregor thought Luxa might have had it coming.**

Luxa frowned. She hated to admit it, but Gregor was probably right.

"**And do not judge me by Stellovet. She is wretched. I admit it. But I can no more control her than you could control Henry!" Howard spat out.**

"**If you think I will believe you innocent, I will not. I have seen you torment Nerissa," said Luxa.**

"**When? When did I do this? I have barely spent five minutes with her altogether!" said Howard.**

"**At the festival. When you set that lizard at her!" said Luxa.**

"How do you set a lizard on someone?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.

When no one answered, Steve continued to read.

"**Set it? I did not set it! That was a rare color changer, and I thought it would amuse her to see it!" said Howard.**

"**But Henry said he saw you - !" began Luxa.**

Luxa's frown deepened. She had been so willing to believe everything her favorite cousin had to say and he'd known it, too. And used it against her.

"**Henry said? **_**Henry **_**said? I cannot believe that even now you do not question things that Henry said, Luxa! Is he the one who told you I was after your crown?" Howard's voice rose in frustration. "Henry said!"**

"Hm. Never seen Howard lose his temper before," Ripred commented in the silence after Howard's outburst.

"**Shh. Too loud. You like Fo-Fo," he heard Boots say.**

The sudden surprise of having Boots comment in such a way had everyone clutching their sides in laughter.

"**It is Photos Glow-Glow!"**

"Yes, because that name is so much better," Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes.

**said an offended voice in the next boat.**

"**Oh, be quiet, Fo-Fo," said Twitchtip, and Gregor had to pretend to cough to conceal he was laughing.**

And this sent everyone laughing once more.

**Boots's feet pattered up by Gregor's head. She leaned over, looking upside down at him. "Hi, you!"**

"**Hi, you," said Gregor. "What's going on, Boots?"**

"**I do toes. Whew! I do bekfast. Two times," Boots said, holding up four fingers. She squatted down and pressed her nose into his forehead so their eyes were blinking at each other upside down. "I see you," she said.**

"**I see you, too," said Gregor.**

"**Bye," Boots said, and trotted off to the other end of the boat.**

**Gregor struggled to a sitting position. His whole body ached like he had the flu. He leaned against the side of the boat and looked at his bandaged arm. "So, what's it look like under the bandage?"**

"**It is not for the faint of heart," **

Grace winced. She didn't want to think about her little boy getting hurt, but these books didn't seem to care about what Grace wanted.

**said Mareth. "You may thank Howard for saving your arm."**

"**Saving it? You were going to cut it off?" Gregor asked, instinctively pulling it closer**

"What!" Grace yelled. "You were going to cut it off?" She turned to Luxa, the fear clear in her eyes.

"It was either that, or your son would have . . ." Luxa hesitated on the word. "Died."

Grace swallowed, upset by how close to death her son had come.

"**We would have had no choice if the venom spread further, but Howard was able to suck it from the wounds," said Mareth.**

"Remind me to thank that boy next time we see him," Grace said faintly, very pale.

Gregor and Luxa smiled and caught each other's eyes. _'. . . the next time we see him,_' they both thought.

'_Does that mean she'll allow us to return to the Underland?_' Gregor wondered eagerly.

"**Ugh. Thanks, Howard." Gregor said, gingerly flexing his fingers. Luxa scowled at him. "What? He sucked venom from my arm! I can't say thank you?"**

"No," Luxa smiled stubbornly.

"**I am trained in water aid! I have sworn to save anyone in peril related to water," said Howard.**

"Except for gnawers," Gregor muttered bitterly.

"**If my cousin had been paying attention that night, there would be no need to be so grateful," said Luxa.**

**Gregor remembered waking, seeing the tentacle. . . . "No, it was my fault. I was supposed to be on guard and I . . . I fell asleep." He felt ashamed to admit it, but it wasn't fair to let Howard take the blame.**

Grace and Steve smiled at their son, happy that he'd not lied about what had happened.

**Everyone was quiet for a minute, then Mareth spoke up. "We probably would still have been attacked. But it is crucial to stay awake on guard. Not only our own survival, but that of many hangs on this journey."**

**It was even worse than Gregor thought, then. "Sorry. I was tired, but I thought I could stay awake."**

"**It is something you learn, how to stand guard. There are tricks to keeping your mind alert. You will find them," said Howard. But Luxa and Mareth said nothing, and Gregor knew that, for them, what he had done was inexcusable. Howard came from the Fount; it was not so dangerous there. Luxa and Mareth had fought too many rats to let him off the hook.**

Luxa nodded, glad that Gregor had realized the danger of what he had done.

**Mareth called a break for dinner. Gregor was famished. He stuffed way too much into his mouth, choked, and had to take a piece of bread back out. "Excuse me. I guess I haven't eaten since dinner last night."**

"**That was two nights ago," said Howard. "You have been out for almost two full days."**

"**Two days!" exclaimed Gregor. He had never been out that long before. Two days, plus the one he had traveled. They must be at least halfway to the Bane, and he felt no more prepared to face it than when he had left Regalia.**

"Well, look on the bright side," Luxa grinned. "The journey seemed at least two days shorter for you. . . . Lucky."

Gregor laughed.

** He should be doing something! He thought about asking Mareth to give him a few more sword lessons, but he was so wiped out from the squid venom, he doubted he could lift the sword.**

**Besides, hitting things with a sword didn't seem to be his problem. In fact, if anything, he couldn't stop hitting things. It was like something took over his whole being, something beyond control.**

Luxa's grin slipped off her face. She'd always thought that being a rager would be nice. That been able o fight instinctively would greatly even the odds against the rats. But the way Gregor described it, it seemed more a curse than a blessing.

**In a weak attempt to better his chances with the Bane, he lay on his back for a while, practicing echolocation. **

'_Ah, so he hadn't been lying. That's nice to know._' Ripred thought.

**Click! But his mind kept going back to the squid and how he hadn't been able to stop hacking away at it. He couldn't really even remember fighting it, the same way he couldn't really remember hitting all the blood balls. Click! Sometimes that happened to people who were crazy . . . They had blank spots and couldn't remember how they'd gotten somewhere or what they'd been doing. Click! Oh, and there was that guy in the werewolf movie, same thing happened to him. He'd just wake up all bloody, wondering what had happened to his clothes. Click! Gregor knew there weren't really werewolves. Click! Then again, how did he know that? If you'd asked him six months ago, he'd have said there weren't giant, talking rats!**

Gregor noticed that Ripred was looking at him weird. "What?" he asked.

"You have the strangest thoughts," Ripred replied, shaking his head.

**Click! Click! Click!**

**He was getting nowhere with this echolocation stuff. Maybe Ripred was right, **

"Of course I am," Ripred smirked.

**he had to focus. But who could focus when they were in the middle of an underground sea, full of squid venom, on their way to killing a monstrous white rat? Not him.**

Ripred sighed. "I suppose you make a good point,"

**Gregor sat up and saw Luxa sitting nearby, sharpening her sword on some hind of stone.**

"**How do you feel?" she asked.**

"**Better since I ate," said Gregor.**

**Luxa tested the edge of her blade by splitting a strand of rope. She frowned in dissatisfaction and continued to work on it.**

"**That looks plenty sharp to me," said Gregor.**

"That sword was scary sharp. I don't know why you kept sharpening it," Gregor remarked.

Luxa sighed. "It gave something to do. Something other than worrying about what migh happen at the end of this quest."

"**Not sharp enough for what lies ahead of us," said Luxa. "It is doubtful many of us will survive."**

"**So why did you come?" asked Gregor.**

"**I thought you might need my help. You have depended on it before," said Luxa. "And Aurora and I, we have Ares to think of as well."**

**While all of that might be true, Gregor had a feeling there was more going on inside Luxa. "Is that all?"**

"**Is that not enough?" Luxa asked, avoiding his gaze.**

"**Sure, I just thought, well, maybe it had something to do with . . ." Gregor stopped himself.**

"**With what?" said Luxa.**

"**With nothing," said Gregor. "Forget it."**

"**I can hardly forget it now," said Luxa. "Why else would I come?"**

"Because of Henry," Lizzie whispered to herself.

"**Because of Henry. I mean, if I were you, I might come to show people I wasn't like him. I might come to make Stellovet shut up," said Gregor.**

**Luxa didn't admit that what he said was right, but she didn't deny it, either.**

Luxa groaned, laying back onto Gregor's chest. "I do not like it when you are right," she mumbled.

"**So, what's the deal with who gets to be king and queen here?" Gregor asked after a while.**

"**My father's family has been on the throne for some time. As his only child, I am to rule next. If I have children, the oldest will follow me," said Luxa.**

"**Even if it's a girl and she has brothers?" Gregor thought that girls only got to rule if there were no boys in the family.**

"Why would you think that?" Luxa asked.

"In most Overland monarchies, girls are not allowed to rule unless there are no men in the family,"

"Well, that is . . ." Luxa paused, looking for a word.

"Stupid?" Mrs. Cormaci suggested.

"Yes, that sound right,"

"**Oh, yes. Girls have equal claim to the throne," said Luxa. "If I have no children, Regalia will have to choose a new royal family."**

"**And Stellovet thinks it will be her family," said Gregor.**

"**She is probably right. Vikus and Solovet will be the most likely choice. Their oldest child, my aunt Susannah, would follow. And then her children, my Fount cousins. Howard is the eldest," said Luxa.**

"**Sounds like Stellovet's a long way from being queen, anyway," said Gregor.**

"By the sound of it, not in the Underland," Grace muttered, upset that her entire family could love such a dangerous place.

"**Not as long as you might think. Not in the Underland," said Luxa.**

**The bats, who had been flying around, came in for bedtime. Mareth put Howard's red bat, Pandora, and Ares on guard. Gregor had a feeling he wasn't going to be assigned that duty for a while.**

**Twitchtip was restless. "Something's not right," she said. She lifted her nose into the air, and her head made an involuntary jerk to the side.**

"Why?" Lizzie questioned.

"She was reacting to the smell of whatever wasn't right,"

"**Is it more squid?" Gregor asked, looking into the deep. **

"**No, it's not an animal. But something's not right," she repeated.**

"**In what way?" asked Ares.**

"**With the water," she said.**

"She can smell the water?" Mrs. Cormaci asked, surprised.

"Yes, and it's a good thing, too," Gregor said.

"**Is it tainted? Frigid? Filled with debris?" asked Howard.**

"**No," said Twitchtip. "I'd recognize those things. It's something I don't have a word for." But she could not explain further, so there was nothing to do but settle down to an uneasy sleep.**

**A few hours later, Gregor awoke to the sound of rushing water and Howard's frantic voice screaming the word that Twitchtip didn't have:**

"**Whirlpool!"**

Grace groaned. First squids, now a whirlpool!

* * *

><p><strong>Um, yeah. Okay, I know that I've taken forever to update and seriously, I really am sorry. I'd like to say that from now on I'll do better, but, thanks to homework, this is probably gonna' be the norm. At least until Thanksgiving Break. Seriously, I am sorry, and I will try harder, but I just don't have a lot of time right now. I will NEVER abandon this story. NEVER. But it's just gonna' take longer for me to get updates in. :(<strong>

**[1] The Dungeon Incident in the Code of Claw.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

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><p>Lizzie hesitantly took the book from her dad. '<em>I had to get a bad chapter, didn't I?<em>'

**Whirlpool? The only thing Gregor could think of was that game. His cousins had an old, round above ground pool.**

"What is a . . . pool?" Luxa asked slowly.

Gregor thought for a moment, then found a good way to describe it. "It's like a very big bathtub, only you don't bathe in it, you wear a bathing suit, and, generally, they're public."

"That is . . . interesting," Luxa frowned, still slightly confused.

**All the kids would try to run around in a circle and make the water swirl around so there was a sort of funnel effect in the middle. He knew there were real whirlpools in the ocean, but he'd never even seen a picture of one.**

**Gregor jumped to his feet and tried to make sense of the situation. Everyone was up, but they were confused, too. The Underlanders usually faced an emergency with precision, as if they'd drilled for the crisis a million times. Gregor had a feeling that none of them had ever dealt with a whirlpool, either . . . and that they had no emergency response at the ready.**

Grace pinched the bridge of her nose. She had been relying on the Underlanders to keep her children safe and they were just as surprised as Gregor was. Sighing, Grace realized she'd been relying on the Underlanders for many things . . .

**Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were burning at full brightness, but there still wasn't enough light to see far out into the water. Gregor pulled out the biggest flashlight he had, one with a wide sweeping beam, and clicked it on. What he saw took his breath away.**

**The boats were on the outer edge of a huge vortex. The whirlpool must have been at least a hundred yards wide. The water was rushing at a dizzying speed, grasping anything in its reach, carrying it around and around until it was sucked down into a black gaping hole in the center.**

Grace swallowed nervously. Why did _her_ children have to go through this?

**Howard and Mareth were shouting at each other across the rope that tethered the two boats together.**

"**I am cutting loose!" Howard yelled as he began to hack away at the rope between them.**

"What?" Lizzie gasped. "But - but . . . what if one of the boats get caught by the whirlpool? And someone gets hurt?" She read quickly to find out, forgetting, in her haste and panic, that she's already been told what had happened.

"**No!" Mareth cried. "The fliers will carry us out!"**

'_Yes! Listen to Mareth!_' Lizzie thought desperately.

"**They can only take one boat! Do it, Mareth! Pandora can come back for me!" Howard shouted, and the rope severed under his sword.**

Lizzie paused for a moment, then glance up at Gregor and Luxa, eyes filled with fear. "Who's in that boat?"

Gregor hesitated, not knowing why his sister suddenly wanted to know this, but Luxa answered right away, understanding what Lizzie wanted to know. "Howard, Pandora, Zap, and . . . Twitchtip," she mumbled.

Lizzie nodded, tears forming, and began to read, thinking, '_They're going to leave Twitchtip there! Zap and Pandora can fly out and Howard just said the bat would come back for him. . . . No mention of Twitchtip, though,_'

**It was just in the nick of time. The lead boat containing Howard, Pandora, Twitchtip, and Zap was snagged by the outer ring of the whirlpool and carried off into the maelstrom.**

**It was only a matter of seconds before the second boat would meet the same fate. Gregor lunged for the stern for Boots, who was half-asleep, so he could get her back in her life jacket. He'd taken it off so she could sleep comfortably. Obviously that had been a bad decision. He fumbled with the jacket's tangled straps.**

**The boat suddenly yanked to the side. "It's got us!" Gregor cried out. But then there was an upward jerk. Gregor sprawled forward, barely avoiding crushing Boots, and found they were rising out of the water. The bats! The bats were lifting them using the rope loops on the sides of the boats. Aurora and Andromeda were in the front, Ares and Pandora in the back.**

"**Go, Pandora. Ares can take it! Go!" Gregor heard Mareth order.**

**Ares spread his feet, holding his own loop in one claw and grasping Pandora's in his other. The boat dipped down a bit, but the big black bat soon had it under control. "Man, he's strong!" thought Gregor.**

**Pandora hovered for one moment, to make sure Ares had things covered, the dove. Gregor leaned over the side of the boat to see what was going on.**

**They were fifty feet above the water now, safe from the clutches of the raging whirlpool, but below them it was another matter. The lead boat, with Howard and Twitchtip clinging to the mast, was spinning helplessly around in the whirlpool, smashing into debris, buckling under the pressure of the current. Except for the light from Gregor's flashlight, the boat was in complete darkness.**

Lizzie shuddered, surprised by just how dark it was down in the Underland.

"**This is certainly an inconvenience," said a whiny voice by his ear. Gregor turned to see Zap sitting on a coil of rope. "It was my time to sleep, too. I hope Photos Glow-Glow does not think this means I will cover his next shift."**

"**Zap! What are you doing? Get down there so they can see!" said Gregor.**

"**Oh, no. We never agree to go into dangerous situations. We are not fed enough for that," said Photos Glow-Glow. And then he actually yawned.**

Mrs. Cormaci's teeth clutched in anger. She hated no-good, lazy scroungers like these fireflies. '_Not fed enough for that, indeed!_' she thought bitterly.

**Gregor spun back around to the whirlpool in time to see Howard launch himself out over the water, arms straight out to his sides. Pandora caught him by the arms and carried him straight up to safety. She set Howard in a soggy pile on the floor and took her rope handle back from Ares.**

**Down in the water, Twitchtip still clung desperately to the mast.**

Lizzie felt a solitary tear roll down her cheek and quickly brushed it away as she continued to read.

** The boat was quickly approaching the inner rings of the whirlpool and the black hole in the center.**

"**Wait a minute!" Gregor cried. "Aren't you going back in for Twitchtip?"**

"Of course not, Rager. She is a rat, isn't she?" Ripred drawled, his words having the desired affect of making Luxa look down, her face flushed with guilt.

**There was no answer. He looked to Mareth, to Luxa, to Howard dripping and panting on the floor. Something in their faces made a chill go through him. "She's going to drown, you know! We've got to get in there!"**

"**It is not possible, Overlander," said Mareth. "We cannot reach her by boat. A single flier could not get hold of her. It is not possible."**

"**Luxa?" said Gregor. She was a queen; she could probably make them if she wanted to.**

"She could _probably_ make them _if she wanted _to," Mrs. Cormaci repeated, emphazing certain words to get her point across. Luxa looked even more guilty now.

"**I think Mareth is right. We will risk more loss in the effort, and the likelihood of success is almost nonexistent," said Luxa.**

"**But we need her! We need her to navigate in the Labyrinth!" said Gregor. Why were they just standing there?**

"**The bats will be sufficient," said Mareth. "And they can be trusted."**

**So, that was it. Now he understood. "It's because she's a rat," he said. "You're just going to sit here and watch her drown because she's a rat, right? If it were Howard or Andromeda or even Temp, you'd be down there, all right, but not for a rat! You'd probably have killed her already if you could have!"**

**Below him, Twitchtip's boat snapped in two. She clung to the wreckage for a few seconds, and then it was swept out of her grasp. She clawed her way through the water, fighting to keep from going under, but she wouldn't last long.**

Lizzie felt more tears fall, but didn't wipe them away as she turned to her brother. "You're going to go in after her, aren't you?"

Grace gasped, looking at her son, hoping for him to tell his sister no. That she was being silly. Tears formed as Gregor nodded.

**The life jacket was on the floor next to Boots. He shoved his arms through the straps and buckled it with shaking hands. The small flashlight, the one Mrs. Cormaci had given him, was in his pocket. He flicked it on. Maybe he could hold it between his teeth.**

**Hands grabbed him as he climbed up the side of the boat. "Do not be a madman, Overlander," said Howard. "You cannot help her!"**

"Yes, please, Gregor. Don't do this," Grace whispered to herself.

She obviously didn't for anyone to hear her, so great was the surprise on her face when Gregor turned to her and said, "Nothing could have stopped me,"

"**You make me the sickest of all!" said Gregor. "You were just down there a minute ago. You got rescued! And what about what you swore? About saving anyone in water trouble! In peril! What you said! What about that?"**

**Howard's face flushed. Gregor had touched a nerve.**

"Good," Mrs. Cormaci frowned.

"**Gregor!" Luxa had his hand. "I forbid you to go, Gregor! You will not survive."**

"Well, then I guess it's too bad he's not one of your loyal, royal subjects, isn't it?" Ripred laughed.

Luxa glared at him, but otherwise ignored him.

"**Not with you guys as backup!" said Gregor. He was so furious, he could have thrown her over the side of the boat. See how she liked it down there.**

Luxa looked down once more, now more guilty than ever. Alone in this room, she was the only one to blame.

**"Ripred brought her for me. **

"Ahh," Ripred smirked. "I'd wondered how long it would take for me to be mentioned."

**He brought her to help me, so I could help you guys and your whole stupid kingdom!" he said. **_[1]_** "That's why we're doing this, right?"**

**He stood on one of the seats and shone his light down in the water. Man! Was he really going to jump down into that? They were right, it was insane. Even if he'd been the best Olympic swimmer in the world, he'd never swim his way out of that, especially pulling some big old rat. But he knew something else, too. He knew that the Underlanders needed to keep him alive at all costs. If he went in, they'd come after him. And if he could get to Twitchtip, they'd have to save them both.**

Luxa sighed. "Sometimes you are too clever for your own good,"

"And sometimes," Ripred laughed. "You're too thick for your own good." He ignored the glares sent his way by the Gregor's parents.

**Howard started lasing something around his body.**

"**Untie me!" Gregor said, taking a swing at him.**

"**It is a lifeline!" Howard said, ducking the blow. "We will hold on to you from this end!"**

"**You will?" said Gregor.**

"**Do not fight the current. It will have no effect. Ride it as best you can!" said Howard.**

Grace sighed. At least he had a little help, for all the good it would do.

**Gregor balanced on the edge of the boat for one second, stuck his flashlight in his teeth, braced himself, tried to forget about how much he hated high dives, and jumped.**

**The shock of the cold water occupied him for about a millisecond before all his attention was on the current. He was nothing – a twig, a gum wrapper, an ant being carried along by the immense force of the whirlpool. He felt himself yanked back up by the rope. They had him from above.**

**He was being lifted, swung out over the dark, sucking hole at the center of the whirlpool. For a moment, he had the crazy idea that they were going to drop him into it, and then he understood. Twitchtip was on the inner rings of the vortex. Maybe one, maybe two times more around, and then she was gone.**

Lizzie's reading sped up. She knew that when Gregor had gotten home from this quest, he'd been reluctant to talk about Twitchtip. Her and Luxa. She also knew that the rat was dead. She hoped it wouldn't be here.

**As they swung him in to meet her, Gregor tried to think of how he could get hold of the rat. There was no time to work out a strategy. As he came in, he did the one thing that came naturally: He opened his arms. They smacked into each other, chest to chest. His arms encircled her neck, his legs wrapped around her body.**_ [2]_** Twitchtip dug her claws into the front of the life jacket. They spun around the whirlpool again. The current locked on them, pulling them down not wanting to let them go.**

"**They can't do it!" thought Gregor. "We're going under!" He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, waiting to be engulfed. Instead, there was a rib-crushing tug **

Gregor winced, remembering the state his ribs were in after that first fight with Pearlpelt.

**and suddenly they were swinging free. Twitchtip's full weight hit him. If the rat hadn't gotten one claw embedded in the rope, he would have lost her.**

"**Don't - let - go!" she choked out.**

Lizzie felt the tears fall even faster.

**Gregor couldn't free his teeth from the flashlight, he had bitten down so hard. He managed to open his mouth enough to say, "No."**

Grace tensed. It all just felt like something you'd see in a movie. Not something that could and did actually happen to her son.

**They were carried over the water for a while, until they were out of the whirlpool's reach. Then they were in the waves, half-treading water, half-using the life jacket to stay afloat, as the Underlanders reeled them in. Hands pulled them into the boat. When he felt the floor beneath him, he released the rat.**

**They lay side by side, gasping, coughing up water. This was extra tricky for Gregor, since his teeth were still stuck in his flashlight. His ribs hurt from the final tug that had freed them. He hoped they were just bruised, not broken. If they ached, the pain was minimal compared to his arm. The bandage had been torn away by the current, and Gregor could see it in all its glory. The whole forearm was badly swollen. The sucker wounds, which had turned a revolting shade of purple, oozed fluorescent green pus. They burned as if they were on fire.**

The effects were immediate. Lizzie gagged as Grace, Mrs. Cormaci, and Steve all winced. Ripred didn't react as much, merely frowning, as he knew that Gregor would have to deal with far worse in the future.

**Howard was at his side. He helped Gregor free his teeth from the flashlight and laid it on the floor. Gregor had a funny memory. When Mrs. Cormaci had given him the flashlight, she had made a point of telling him it was waterproof. It even had a little sticker on the bottom that said so. He'd thought at the time that was silly, why would he need a waterproof flashlight? Now he knew.**

**Gregor gritted his teeth as Howard flushed out the wound on his arm, poured a cooling solution over the skin, and bandaged it in fresh fabric.**

"**I know this comes a bit late," said Howard. "But try to keep it dry." **

Mrs. Cormaci snorted, which got Lizzie giggling, which led to the whole laughing as hard as they could, the tension fleeing the room instantly.

**There was something in his eyes that reminded Gregor of Howard's grandfather, Vikus. An odd twinkle **_[3]_**, even while the rest of his face remained serious.**

**Gregor couldn't help laughing. "Yeah. I'll do that."**

**Howard toweled off Twitchtip and wrapped her in blankets. She was too exhausted to object when he poured a bottle of medicine down her throat. She went to sleep almost immediately.**

"**Is she all right?" Gregor asked him.**

"**Yes. We must keep her warm. The cold water had been a shock. But she is a fighter," Howard said with respect.**

**Boots came up and stuck a cookie in Gregor's mouth. "You wet."**

Luxa grinned. She'd always loved Boots.

"**Yeah," he said, spraying crumbs as he talked.**

"**Boots go swim? We go swim?" she said hopefully. Gregor was glad she hadn't been able to see over the side of the boat.**

"**Nah. It's too cold," said Gregor. "I tried it, and it's too cold, Boots."**

"That's one way of putting it," smirked Ripred.

**Boots took a bite of a second cookie and poked the rest in Gregor's mouth. "Yesterday? We go yesterday?" She got time all mixed up. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, later, before - all pretty much meant anytime that wasn't right now.**

"**Maybe when we get home. And it gets warm again. I'll take you to the pool, okay?" said Gregor.**

"**Ye-es!" said Boots. She patted his chest. "You wet." **

**Gregor got on some dry clothes and wrapped himself up in a blanket. He had to take his boots off for a while. They were waterproof, but not in a whirlpool.**

**The boat was packed now, with all thirteen of them in it. Somehow everyone had found a place, but it was tight.**

**Luxa sat next to Gregor and handed him something. "Here. I made you a sandwich."**

Grace grinned. She was glad that the young girl was watching out for her son.

**He looked down at the clunky version of a roast beef sandwich. He had taught her to make her first sandwich on their last trip. "Thanks." He didn't eat it.**

"**Do not be angry with us, Gregor. Mareth and I have lost more than you know to the rats. It is hard for us to risk anything to save one. Even if it is of use," said Luxa.**

"_**She**_**. Twitchtip is a **_**she**_**. **

Ripred smiled to himself as Gregor defended Twitchtip.

**And she's had a bad time, too. The rats chased her out because she's a scent seer and she's been living all alone in the Dead Land," said Gregor.**

"**Has she?" asked Luxa. "I did not know this about her."**

"Well, no. You wouldn't," Mrs. Cormaci frowned.

"**Well, no, because no one talks to her!" Gregor said, and then had a pang of guilt. He hadn't been talking to her, either. He hadn't wanted to ride in her boat. At least he'd gone in to save her. "But she's incredible. You should see her in action. I mean, maybe she didn't know what a whirlpool was. But she could tell all the way from the arena to the palace what color shirt Boots was wearing. And once we're in that Labyrinth thing, I think she's the only way we'll find the Bane!" His words were tumbling out now; he couldn't stop them, but he couldn't organize them quite right, either.**

"You're too tired, Gregor. You need to go to sleep," Grace sighed.

** "And . . . and . . . Ripred brought her. Vikus told me once he had wisdom . . . wisdom unique . . . well, more wisdom than, like . . . practically anyone, okay? So, if he brought her, we must need her. And, anyway, besides that . . . besides that . . . it's no good, Luxa!" He paused to get it right. "It's no good to sit up in the boat and watch her drown."**

**Gregor took a bite of his sandwich - more to stop talking than anything. It was all so confusing, the whole thing with the rats and the humans. They had killed Luxa's parents, and he didn't know how many others she loved. Another thought struck him. "Helping a rat doesn't make you like Henry, you know."**

"**You see it that way. Others might not," she said.**

**They sat in silence while he ate his sandwich. He couldn't argue with her there.**

"Done," Lizzie whispered, passing the book to Ripred.

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><p><strong>Yay! Just a little better, right?<strong>

**Oh, and this works out nicely: Ripred gets to read the chapter explaining the whole rager fiasco. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible.**

**[1] The respect he lost when yelling at Ares, he just won back.**

**[2] I so wanted to bring Larry in unexpectedly so that he and Gregor could laugh at those sentences. It's amazing how you can find so many 'wrong' things in these sentences if you have to type each one up. ;)**

**[3] Dumbledore!**

**Also, I need y'all to check out the poll on my profile. It's important to the plot of the story.  
><strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.**

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><p>Ripred took the book from Lizzie and began to read.<strong><br>**

**Gregor found a spot on the floor at the front of the boat and made a bed out of blankets. Ares landed on a nearby seat.**

"**Hey, Ares," he said. "What's up?"**

"**I am unsettled. About your rescuing the rat," said Ares.**

Lizzie frowned in thought. It seemed unlikely that Ares would get on to Gregor for risking his life to rescue Twitchtip. More likely, the bat was feeling guilty about not being able to help in any way.**  
><strong>

"**Oh, great," thought Gregor. "Here we go again." But he had it all wrong.**

"**I could not let go of the boat. I would have dived for you, but I could not let go of the boat without everyone falling," Ares said, his wings fluttering in distress.**

Lizzie smiled sadly. She thought it was sweet how loyal Ares was to her brother.**  
><strong>

"**Well, I know that," said Gregor. "Of course, you couldn't. I didn't expect you to."**

"**I did not want you to think, as your bond, that I would not come after you," said Ares. "The way I did not go after Henry."**

"**I didn't. I mean, I don't. You've already come after me way more than I've come after you,"**

Gregor frowned slightly. To this day, Ares had saved his life more than Gregor had saved his. And then Gregor had gone and gotten the bat killed.**  
><strong>

** said Gregor. "You did the only thing you could do."**

**Gregor sat on his makeshift bed. Boots climbed onto his lap and gave a big yawn. "I seepy."**

"**Yeah, me, too. Let's get some shut-eye, okay?" He lay down with Boots in the crook of his good arm and pulled a blanket over them.**

"**We shut eyes," Boots said, and snuggled off to sleep.**

Luxa smiled. The little girl was just so sweet.**  
><strong>

**Gregor had neglected to put the life jacket back on her again. He really didn't think she could sleep in it, anyway. But what if they ran into another squid or whirlpool or something?**

"**Hey, Ares," he said. "If something bad happens again? I need you to promise me something."**

"**What is this promise?" said the bat.**

"**Save Boots. I mean, save her before me. I know we're bonds and all, but get her first," said Gregor.**

**Ares thought about it for a minute. "I will save both of you."**

"**But if you have to choose one of us, choose Boots, okay?" said Gregor. There was no answer. "Please, Ares."**

**The bat sighed. "I will save her over you, if I must choose, if this is what you wish."**

Luxa's eyes widened. She had not known of this exchange and was surprised Gregor had gotten Ares to agree at all.**  
><strong>

"**This is what I wish," Gregor said, letting go and relaxing into sleep. He felt better knowing Ares was there, watching out for Boots, too. Maybe between him and Ares and, of course, Temp, they could keep her safe.**

**Hours later, when Gregor awoke, he felt a warm body pressed up against his leg. He wriggled his arm, which had gone numb, out from under Boots's head and sat up. In the light of Photos Glow-Glow's bulb, he could see Twitchtip lying against him. **

Lizzie smiled, remembering sleeping against Ripred for comfort that night in Regalia. She found it sweet that Twitchtip trusted Gregor that much.**  
><strong>

**He gave a little start of surprise, and she opened her eyes.**

**Twitchtip looked embarrassed and scooted away about six inches, which was as much as the close confines of the boat would allow. It was this reaction that gave Gregor the idea that she hadn't just rolled over against him in her sleep. She had, at some point, intentionally curled up against his leg. And it led him to another thought. How hungry for contact must Twitchtip be to lean up against him? A human? A human whose scent made her ill? She must be starved. All those years of living alone in the Dead Land had left her desperate to touch any warm being. Even him.**

The smile faded from Lizzie's face when she saw Gregor's expression. She supposed that remembering how bad Twitchtip's life had been wasn't helping him.**  
><strong>

**He immediately covered up for her. "Hey, sorry. I must've rolled into you when I was sleeping."**

Gregor gave a start of surprise as he realized that this would be the chapter in which his being a rager would be explained. He glanced at his parents, wondering just how many questions he'd have to answer.

"**It's hard not to," said Twitchtip. "There's so little room in the boat."**

"**Yeah," said Gregor. He looked around. Mareth was in the back, steering. Andromeda stood guard next to him. Photos Glow-Glow was perched on the bow, occasionally shifting the color of his rear end. Everyone else was fast asleep.**

**Gregor considered going back to sleep, but he felt too alert. Besides, this might be a good time to talk to the rat. He tried to think of a way to start the conversation, but Twitchtip began it herself.**

"**I know you made them save me," said Twitchtip.**

"**Well, I kind of spearheaded the whole thing," said Gregor, not wanting her to know how readily the others would have let her die.**

**But she knew, anyway. "Ripred was right about you.**

"I tend to be right about most things," Ripred smirked.

Luxa rolled her eyes, but Gregor nodded, thinking about Ripred telling him not to believe Sandwich's prophecies.

** He said I couldn't judge you like I would other humans."**

"**That's interesting. Because I think Vikus said something similar to me about Ripred," said Gregor. The subject made him uncomfortable. "So how long have you been living on you own?"**

"**Three or four years," said Twitchtip.**

"But why?" Lizzie whispered to herself.**  
><strong>

"**Why'd they drive you out? The other rats. I mean, they're so into smell, seems like you'd be famous," said Gregor.**

Lizzie grinned at her brother for asking the very question she so wanted to know the answer to.**  
><strong>

"**I was, in a way, for some time. Then they realized I could smell their secrets, and no one wanted me around," said Twitchtip. "I can smell yours, too."**

"**My secrets? Like what?" asked Gregor. He tried to think about what his secrets might be. His father's disappearance used to be a kind of secret, or at least it was something he never discussed much. But that was over. Of course now, the Underland was a secret. But only in the Overland. So what was she talking about?**

Lizzie's eyes widened as she realized what Twitchtip was talking about.

**Twitchtip spoke so softly that Gregor could barely hear her. "I know what happens when you fight."**

Immediately, Mrs. Cormaci, Lizzie, and her parents leaned forward, eager to know what happened when Gregor fought.**  
><strong>

**Gregor was taken aback. But she was right, that was a secret. He hadn't told anybody about how he couldn't really remember what happened once he started swinging a sword. But he didn't let on. "What happens when I fight?" he asked coolly.**

"**You can't stop. You put out a scent. I have only smelled it once or twice before. We rats have a name for someone like you. You're a rager," said Twitchtip.**

"**A rager? What's a rager?" asked Gregor. It sounded like somebody who lost their temper a lot.**

Luxa snickered. She had to admit, he was right.**  
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"**It's a special kind of fighter. They're born with great ability. While others may train for years to master combat, a rager is a natural-born killer," said Twitchtip.**

Grace recalled Gregor using those words. Hopefully Twitchtip would explain this better than her son had.**  
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**It was absolutely the worst thing he could imagine anybody saying about him. "I'm not a natural-born killer!" he gasped. He thought about Sandwich's prophecies, how they called him a warrior, how he was supposed to kill the Bane. "Is that what everybody thinks? I'm some kind of killing machine?"**

"**No one even knows about it yet, or it would've been the first thing I heard about you. Being a rager - it's not a moral judgment. You can't help being one any more than I can help being a scent seer.**

Lizzie frowned. "But if being a rager was just how Gregor was born, why aren't Boots and I ragers, too?"

Ripred shrugged. "I've no idea. Why weren't my siblings ragers? Or my parents? My pups for that matter? Why ragers are what they are, and how, nobody knows. There's no pattern to it."

Luxa, listening to this, gave a start of surprise. She'd never known that Ripred had pups. Though, judging off of the saddened expression on Lizzie's face, she guessed that there was a very good reason Ripred had not told anyone of his pups. And, judging off of Gregor's complete lack of surprise, they were going to find out why. _[1]_**  
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** It doesn't mean you want to kill, it means you can. Better than anyone. But once you begin to fight, it's very hard for you to rein yourself in," said Twitchtip.**

"But why? Why is it so hard to control yourself?" Grace asked, glancing between Ripred and Gregor.

Neither one knew how to answer, but Ripred was able to help a little. "No one really knows for sure. The closest the Overland has to ragers are the Norse berserkers." _[2]_

Grace still looked just as confused as before, but Steve, as an ex-History teacher, nodded in understanding.**  
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**Gregor's heart was pounding. What if she was right? No, she couldn't be right. He didn't even like fighting! He didn't even like people arguing! But what about how he'd acted with the blood balls and the tentacles? He couldn't control what he did. He couldn't even remember it . . . "I think you've got me mixed up with somebody else" was all he said.**

"**No, I don't. Ignore me if you want to, but eventually you'll know I'm right. If you get a chance, though, I'd talk to Ripred about it," said Twitchtip.**

"**Ripred? Why Ripred?" Gregor said, thinking the main person he might need to see was a shrink.**

Mrs. Cormaci snorted and Luxa grinned at that. Luxa would have laughed, too, but after reading through a few of Gregor's fights, she could understand where he was coming from.**  
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"**Because he's a rager, too," said Twitchtip. "But, unlike you, he's learned to control his actions."**

**Ripred. Well, no question, if anyone was a killing machine, it was that rat.**

Said rat rolled his eyes. "I'll try not to be insulted by that,"**  
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** Gregor thought of Ripred whipping his tail at him to check his reflexes and saying, "Well, you can't teach that." Did he already suspect Gregor was a rager? **

"Yes," Ripred admitted.**  
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**Did Solovet?**

"I think she did, actually," Luxa said. "She kept talking about how you had caught Ripred's tail out of thin air. And about how you had hit all fifteen blood balls on your first try."**  
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"**I'm going back to sleep now," Gregor said, and lay down. He pulled Boots close for comfort and stared into the dark. He found himself biting his lip so he wouldn't cry. Yeah. If he got back from this alive, he'd better talk to Ripred.**

**Hours passed, and slowly, on by one, everyone awoke, and what approximated a "day" in the Underland began. Gregor had utterly lost track of how long he'd been down here. He thought about asking Luxa, but did he really want to know? Every day down here was a day his family had been suffering at home. His head started to fill with images of that suffering - his dad's illness worsening, his mother's sleepless nights, his sweet grandma's confusion, and Lizzie's fear. What was happening? Did his mom still work every day? Was Lizzie trying to take care of his dad and his grandma and go to school and pretend to Mrs. Cormaci that he and Boots had the flu? Was it almost Christmas? Everything bad was worse at the holidays, he knew that from the years of his dad's absence. All around you were people in an extra-happy mood, and it just made your own hurt bigger. Now that his dad was back, Gregor had thought his family might have one of those merry Christmases again, even if there wasn't a ton of money for presents. And here he was, miles below his home, going to kill a giant white rat and trying to keep his baby sister alive while his family watched the hands crawl around the clock and waited. Ho ho ho.**

Luxa frowned. '_What does "_ho ho ho_" mean?_'**  
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**Besides that, everyone on board was driving one another crazy. It had been an effort for all the different species - human, bat, rat, roach, and firefly - to be cohabiting in two boats. In one boat, it was getting nasty.**

"It's like an extended car ride," Mrs. Cormaci laughed. "At least there was no crazy kid continually asking if you were there yet."**  
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**Arguments were breaking out right and left, especially over food. A lot of the supplies had been stored in the second boat, so they were lost in the whirlpool. Mareth took stock of the remaining food and put everyone on strict rations. But Photos Glow-Glow and Zap insisted they receive their same gluttonous amounts. When they were told that wasn't going to happen, they whined incessantly until Twitchtip remarked that she could always eat fireflies. Then they simply sulked and only put out light when they felt like it.**

"**Why do the girl and her flier get our food?" Gregor heard Zap mutter to Photos Glow-Glow. "They are no more than stowaways!"**

**And of course, Gregor couldn't deny Boots food. When lunch was passed around, she gobbled up her bread and cheese in record time and then pointed at Gregor's. "I hungry!" There was nothing he could do but give her half his food. But after eating that and half of Temp's ration, she was still not full.**

"**Oh, here, give her this," Twitchtip said, and scooted a chunk of cheese over to Boots, who gnawed on it happily. Everyone gawked at Twitchtip, who snarled. "It reeks of humans, I can barely choke it down, anyway!" And everyone looked away. But Gregor was pretty sure he had witnessed a first - a rat giving a human her food.**

Even Ripred's eyes were widened in surprise at that.**  
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**Howard was the least concerned about the food issue. "We are surrounded by food, we need only reach in and get it," he said. He lowered nets into the water and sent the bats out to dive for fish. He was right. It didn't take long to assemble a good-sized pile of seafood. Unfortunately, there was no way to cook it. This wasn't a problem for anyone but the humans; most of the others preferred their catch that way. But, raw fish! Gregor stared at the cold, white flesh with distaste. He knew they couldn't waste fuel to cook it. It crossed his mind that he might try warming it up on Photos Glow-Glow's butt, but he didn't like the bug enough to ask.**

Mrs. Cormaci seemed to find this extremely entertaining.**  
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"**You should try it. It is not as bad as you think," Howard said, popping a big piece into his mouth and chewing it up. "Sometimes we serve it this way at the Fount, although it is not done in Regalia."**

**Gregor nibbled the edge of a chunk and decided it was edible. Then he remembered that a lot of people ate sushi; that was raw fish. He'd walked by Japanese restaurants with beautiful displays of fish and rice and seaweed assembled in bite-sized pieces. It was expensive, too. He'd never had it, but his friend Larry had and he'd said it was okay, if you put a bunch of soy sauce on it. Gregor closed his eyes, pretended he was at a fancy restaurant, and stuck a whole piece in his mouth. He wished he had some soy sauce.**

**Luxa was trying to get it down, too. Gregor could see she didn't like it much better than he did, but since she wasn't supposed to be here, she couldn't really complain. Besides, she wouldn't want to look like she couldn't handle eating something her cousins could eat.**

Luxa scowled. '_Why must he continually get these things right?_'**  
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**Boots took a bite and unceremoniously spit it out, then wiped her hand repeatedly over her tongue. "No like! No like!" They were still working on getting her to eat breaded fish sticks with ketchup at home, so this wasn't surprising.**

**Twitchtip, who had put down about half a dozen fish in a snap, suddenly lifted her head and began to scrunch her nose around. "Land. We're coming to land."**

Instantly, Luxa and Gregor sat up, tense. They knew what was coming. **  
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**Mareth pulled out a map and scrutinized it. "We should not be, not for several days. I hope the whirlpool has not thrown us off course."**

**Howard consulted a compass. "No, we are going in the right direction. Can you tell the nature of the land?"**

"Yeah. Deadly," Gregor frowned.

Ripred heard him and shot him a questioning look.**  
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"**Perhaps one mile around," Twitchtip said, wriggling her nose.**

"**Around? Oh, then it is an island?" asked Howard. He pointed to a spot on the map. "I place us here. But there is no island recorded in this area. Although it has been many years since these waters were charted."**

"**I believe it's recently formed," said Twitchtip. "It has the smell of fresh lava."**

"Fresh death," Luxa whispered, tears forming. Ripred noticed this, too.**  
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"**Is there life on it?" asked Mareth.**

**Twitchtip closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes, a great deal. No warm-bloods, though. It's all insect. But I don't have a name for their scent."**

**Gregor started fastening Boots up in her life jacket. The last time Twitchtip didn't have a name for something, they had all almost drowned. An island of unfamiliar insects. That just didn't sound good.**

Ripred's eyes widened as he connected the dots. This was that island he'd heard mentioned whenever his "death" was discussed. And, if he remembered correctly, someone was going to die.**  
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**After about another half an hour of sailing, the bats began to raise their heads. Now they were picking up the island on their radar, too.**

"**How big are the bugs? Can you tell?" asked Gregor. Everything was so oversized here.**

"They did not need to be large to be destructive," Luxa mumbled, trying to hold back tears, remembering how distraught her cousin had been.**  
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"**Not large," said Ares. "Tiny, in fact."**

**That made Gregor feel a little better.**

**Until Aurora added, "But there are millions of them."**

"**Can you recognize them, Pandora?" Howard asked.**

**The bat shook her head. "No, they are most like the mites we encountered on the Island of Shell. But these have a different voice."**

"**What were the mites like?" asked Gregor.**

"**Oh, they were harmless. As small as the head of a pin, and while they did bite, it was not lasting," said Howard.**

"**And they were very tasty," added Pandora. "Not unlike bluebits."**

**This comment seemed to arouse the interest of all the bats. Whatever bluebits were, Gregor had a feeling that, for bats, they beat out raw fish by a mile.**

"Oh, yes. Bluebits are a delicacy for bats," Ripred said. Only Luxa and Gregor noticed the tension in his voice. They realized that he had figured out what was to happen.**  
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"**Perhaps I should do a flyover. We could get very full, if they are like bluebits," said Pandora.**

**Mareth was reluctant to let her go, but Howard thought it would be okay. "If they are mites, what harm can they do?"**

"Famous last words," Mrs. Cormaci, too, had caught on to the subdued atmosphere, though she did not know the cause.**  
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"**Go, I would not, go," Temp said, but no one much ever listened to him.**

"That is because we are all a group of stupid people," Luxa sighed regretfully.

"**Why not, Temp?" asked Gregor. "Do you know what kind of bugs they are?"**

**Temp didn't. Or he couldn't articulate if he did. "Bug bad" was all he could say.**

"**There it is!" Luxa said suddenly, and the place emerged from the darkness. It was visible in the light of a small volcano that slowly bubbled out lava at the center of the island. In a couple of places, the lava spilled over and ran into the water, entering it with a hiss. A junglelike growth of twisted plants covered areas that were not in the lava's path. Gregor guessed they must depend on the light of the lava since there was no other. Or maybe they only needed its heat. His dad had told him something about that - how they had discovered some things could grow without light if there was heat. Well, whatever they used, these plants were doing fine.**

**Then there was that hum. The whole place vibrated with life that they couldn't see. Gregor didn't like it. He knew Temp didn't, either. But the other Underlanders seemed curious about the new island.**

"**It seems a shame to pass it by without any examination," said Howard. "We may gather knowledge that will help future voyagers."**

Luxa sighed. "At least one good thing came out of that experience,"**  
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**And there was no holding Pandora back. "Yes, it is our duty to at least ascertain if it would make a hospitable place for resting. Some of our stronger fliers could make the crossing, if they knew they might land here."**

**It was agreed that Pandora could make a quick reconnaissance flight to get a closer look at the place. She flew off swiftly and was soon over the island. It didn't her long to circle it and report back to the bats in pitches the other couldn't even hear.**

"**She says it is safe,"**

"She's wrong," Gregor groaned.

** said Ares. "And the mites are even more delicious than bluebits."**

"**Well, you may as well fill your bellies," said Mareth. "But only in pairs. I do not like all of you away from the boat at once. You may join her, Ares. Then Aurora and Andromeda may go."**

**Gregor picked up Boots so she could look, too. It wasn't every day you got to see a volcanic island in an underground ocean. "May as well check it out, if it's safe and all," thought Gregor.**

**But it wasn't.**

Grace, Steve, and Lizzie, who'd all yet to realize something bad was going to happen, all tensed in anticipation.**  
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**Ares was almost to the island when it happened. A black cloud exploded out of the jungle and engulfed Pandora. She had no time to react. One moment she was darting around eating mites, the next moment they were eating her. In less than ten seconds they had stripped the writhing bat down to the bone. Her white skeleton hung for an instant in the air, then crashed into the jungle below.**

Grace gasped, disgusted. Lizzie, paling in fear and shock, covered her mouth quickly, stifling a scream.**  
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**Then a puzzled little voice next to Gregor's ear asked, "Where bat?"**

And Grace burst into tears.**  
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><p><strong>Yay, another chapter completed!<strong>

**Yeah, it probably wasn't as exciting as most of y'all wanted, but I tried.  
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**[1] OMG, I wanna' meet Ripred's pups! Hell, I just wanna' meet Ripred, but his pups! Anyone who writes a good story about them will be my best friend! :D  
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**[2] http:/ .org /wiki /Berserker (without spaces)  
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	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or anyone within.**

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><p>Mrs. Cormaci took the book from Ripred and began to read.<p>

"**Pandora!" Howard cried in horror. "Pan!" He scrambled up over the side of the boat and was about to dive into the water when Mareth yanked him back down.**

Grace's tears began to flow faster as Lizzie took her hands off of her mouth and began to cry as well.

"**Release me, Mareth! We are bonds!" said Howard. He thrashed about wildly in Mareth's grip.**

"**She is gone, Howard! You cannot help her!" said Mareth.**

**But Howard was unable to accept this. He twisted out of Mareth's hold and made for the side of the boat again. Mareth grabbed him by the arm, spun him around, and with one punch knocked him unconscious. Luxa caught Howard as he flew backward. She staggered back under his weight, but was unable to break his fall as he landed.**

**In the meantime, Ares, **

Mrs. Cormaci groaned. She had forgotten that Ares was in danger, too.

**whose first impulse had been to go in to help Pandora, did an abrupt 180-degree turn and began to fly toward open sea for all he was worth. The cloud of mites, which was only a couple of feet from him, rose up into the air and began to chase him. As fast as he flew, the cloud stayed on his tail.**

Gregor hung his head, wondering what would have happened if the mites had caught up to Ares. Was his survival here just a prolonging of the inevitable? Sounds of "_Ares? Ares? Don't go, Ares, okay? Don't._" filled his mind. He didn't want to think about how he'd react when they finally got to that part of his adventures.

**Gregor felt himself hit by the same panic Howard had experienced a few moments before. "Ares!" he cried. "Hurry! They're right behind you!" He felt so helpless. He couldn't jump into the water to save his bat. It would be pointless, anyway, Mareth would just knock him out, too. And even if he could get to Ares, how would he stop a cloud of flesh-eating mites? "Think, Gregor!" he said to himself. "What can you do?" The cloud was gaining on Ares now. The black edge was almost touching his tail. They were going to eat him! ****He was going to be devoured by insects, and his skeleton would fall into the water and – and – wait a minute! That was it!**

"**Dive, Ares!" Gregor screamed. "Dive into the water!" At first, Gregor wasn't sure the bat had heard him. "Dive!" he shrieked.**

"Ah, so you can use your brain. Amazing!" Ripred rolled his eyes. He grinned as Luxa snorted and Lizzie giggled, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

**And as the mites began to merge over the line of Ares's tail, the bat dove into the water. Gregor wasn't sure exactly what he thought would happen, but it seemed like people sometimes got into the water to escape from bugs. Bees and things, anyway. If Ares was in the water, they couldn't get him; that was as far as his plan went. It was somewhat limited in effectiveness since, of course, Ares would soon have to come up for air. But it turned out that Gregor had thought of the right thing, after all, because just then the fish – all the wonderful fish! – surfaced and began to feast on the mites. The cloud halted and began to counterattack the fish. When Ares came up for air, the mites had forgotten him and were busy battling a new enemy and a potential meal.**

Even Ripred was impressed by the way Gregor's plan had turned out, though you would have been hard pressed to make him admit it.

"**Fliers! The ropes!" Mareth ordered, and Aurora and Andromeda grabbed the front loops on the boat and began to drag the vessel through the water. Ares caught up and with him carrying the back end, they soon left the island far behind. Mareth had them fly for several miles before he allowed them to put the boat back in the water and land to rest.**

**Ares set his end in the water, but did not join them immediately. He dove into the waves again and again, and finally, after about twenty minutes, came in dripping, exhausted and trembling. "The mites," he explained.**

Mrs. Cormaci, who'd looked confused, nodding in understanding.

"**Some of them latched on and were eating me. I believe I have drowned them all now, though."**

"**Are you okay?" Gregor asked, giving him an awkward pat.**

"**Yes, I am fine," said Ares. "I have only some small wounds. Not like –" and the bat stopped himself. They all knew who he meant.**

Lizzie looked down sadly. They had barely gotten to know Pandora, and that was just through a book. And now she was. . . . Lizzie shook her head. She didn't like thinking about it.

**Gregor toweled Ares off. Luxa helped him go through the black fur, inch by inch, and apply medicine to wherever the mites had bitten off pieces of his flesh. While they found many wounds, Ares was right. He had left all the bugs in the water.**

"**It was good, Overlander. Your idea to dive," said Ares.**

"**Yes, it was very clever to know the fish would come after the mites," said Luxa.**

"**Well, I hadn't really thought it all the way through to the fish part," admitted Gregor. "Sure glad they were there, though."**

**When they had finished treating him, Aurora and Andromeda snuggled up against Ares, and the three bats went off to sleep. Gregor was glad Andromeda was no longer shunning his bat. Maybe she'd realized that Aurora would choose Ares over her, and she'd end up alone. Whatever the reason, Gregor thought Ares really needed the company now.**

Mrs. Cormaci sighed. She hated that most everyone had hared Ares. He'd done nothing wrong and everything right. And it had taken his death for them to realize that.**  
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**Mareth had his hands full steering the boat, so Gregor and Luxa did their best to tend to Howard as well. He was still out. They made him a bed, covered him up, and took turns holding cold cloths to his swollen jaw.**

"**Do you think we should try to wake him up?" asked Gregor.**

**Luxa shook her head. "He has the rest of his life to mourn her."**

**They were all very quiet that day. The bats slept fitfully, Twitchtip stared out at the water, Mareth steered, Boots and Temp played little games, the fireflies whispered together on the bow and did not complain.**

Luxa frowned, turning to Gregor. She whispered, "Do you think that's when they started to talk about leaving?"

Gregor sighed unhappily, resting his forehead on hers. "Most likely,"**  
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**Gregor and Luxa sat side by side, watching Boots and Temp. For a long time, they were silent. Gregor kept reliving Pandora's horrific death in his head and he suspected Luxa was doing the same.**

"I was," Luxa nodded sadly.**  
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**Finally, as if she couldn't stand it anymore, Luxa spoke up. "Tell me about the Overland, Gregor," she said.**

"**Okay," he said, badly in need of a distraction himself. "What do you want to know?"**

"**Oh, anything. Tell me . . . what one day is like, from rising to sleep," she said.**

"**Well, it's really different, depending on who you are," said Gregor.**

"**Then tell me about one of your days," said Luxa.**

**So, he did. He told her about the last day he'd been up there, since it was freshest in his mind. He told her about how it was Saturday, so there was no school, and how he'd helped Mrs. Cormaci make scalloped potatoes and bought Lizzie the puzzle book and the had taken Boots sledding. He didn't dwell on the lack of food or his dad's illness, **

"I'd noticed that, after reading about that day in the book," Luxa muttered, wishing he had told her. Confined in her.**  
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**since talking about those things made him feel more anxious and there was enough bad stuff going on around them, anyway. He concentrated on the nicer parts of the day.**

**Luxa would ask a question here or there, usually if he used an unfamiliar word, but mostly she just listened. When he finished, she sat thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then she said, "I wish I could see the snow."**

Luxa looked excited for a minute before she realized, "It's too warm for that now, isn't it?"

Gregor smiled sadly and nodded. "Yeah, sorry. You could always come in the winter, though!"

Both smiled as they noticed that Grace did not contradict Gregor's proposal.**  
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"**You should come on up sometime," Gregor said, and she laughed. "No, really, you should come up for a day. Or a few hours, at least. It's pretty cool, where I live. I mean, it's not a palace or anything. But New York City is something else."**

"**You do not think Overlanders would find me strange?" asked Luxa.**

**It was a problem. That translucent skin, those violet eyes . . . "We'll put you in long sleeves and a hat and sunglasses," **

Mrs. Cormaci laughed. "In New York, you wouldn't have to! These days, with her skin, people would probably think she either think she spent everyday inside, on a computer, or they'd think she was the victim of a botched surgery; some stupid teen trying to look cool."

Luxa and Gregor grinned at each other at that. Being able to walk around, unhindered, was exciting.**  
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**Gregor said. "You won't look any stranger than about half the people who live there." **

"See!" Mrs. Cormaci grinned widely.**  
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**Suddenly he felt almost enthusiastic about the idea. "And we could go out when it's kind of dark, so the sun won't blind you.**

"Oh," Mrs. Cormaci sighed. "That would be a problem, wouldn't it? I guess Gregor's idea would work. Or you could just wear sunglasses and a whole lotta' sunscreen."**  
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** I mean, even if we just went down the block and got a slice of pizza, that'd be like nothing you've ever seen!"**

Luxa smiled happily. That was all possible now. She wondered what pizza was. . . .**  
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**They were both happy for a minute. Thinking of being in New York. Thinking of being somewhere else.**

**Then Luxa sighed and did that thing where she pushed her crown. "Of course, the council would never permit me to go."**

Lizzie grinned at the idea of Luxa listening to anyone other than herself. Oh, and Ripred and Gregor of course. But that was pretty much a given.**  
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"**Oh, yeah, and that's the kind of thing that would stop you," said Gregor.**

**She gave him a grin and was about to answer when Howard let out a moan.**

"**Pandora?" he said. Howard sat up so quickly, he had to grab hold of Temp to steady himself. His eyes darted around and landed on the three bats huddled together. He looked upward as if maybe he had dreamt the whole thing and Pandora was flying just overhead. But of course, she wasn't. "Pandora?" he said. His hand touched his bruised jaw, and he turned to Mareth.**

"**You could not save her, Howard. None of us could," Mareth said gently.**

**Gregor could almost see it, the whole weight of Pandora's death coming down on Howard, crushing him. **

Gregor's temporary feeling of euphoria slipped away as he recalled the guilt he'd felt, still felt, in fact, after Ares's death.**  
><strong>

**The Underlander dropped his face into his hands and began to sob. It was heartbreaking to watch.**

**Boots went over and patted him on the back of the neck. "Okay. You okay. You okay, baby," she said soothingly. **

Grace smiled at her little girl. She was glad that Boots was being sweet. Glad, but not surprised.**  
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**This was what they said to her when she was upset. Her sweetness only seemed to make Howard cry harder. Boots looked over at her brother. "Ge-go, he cry."**

**Gregor knew she wanted him to help. To make it better. But he didn't have a clue what to do. Then something unexpected happened.**

**Luxa stood up, her face paler than usual. She went to her cousin, sat beside him, and put her arms around him. Pressing her forehead into his shoulder, she said, "She will fly with you always. You know this. She will fly with you always."**

**Howard buried his face in her lap. She leaned her cheek against the top of his head. And it was a long time before either of them stopped crying.**

Mrs. Cormaci grinned at Luxa as she slid off Gregor's lap so he could read. She was glad that Luxa had gotten over her feelings enough to comfort her cousin.**  
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* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Another chapter! I'm dedicating this one to <em>OverlyHyperSuperAwesomeChick<em>, for putting me in her community (_Good UC Fanfics_) and to _Eulaliaaaa_, for writing such an awesome story! (_World at War Underland: Part One Early Conflicts_)  
><strong>


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.**

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><p>Luxa slid off of Gregor's lap, taking the book from Mrs. Cormaci<p>

**Gregor's supper consisted entirely of raw fish as he gave his small ration of bread and meat to Boots. Temp, Howard, and Ares did the same, and she seemed satisfied. **

Grace frowned. She hoped the Underlanders hadn't felt as though her daughter was taking advantage of them.

**Giving a big yawn, she said, "We shut eyes?"**

"**Yeah, we shut eyes, Boots," Gregor said, and she snuggled up next to him on floor.**

**Howard, ghost-white except for the purplish bruise that stained his jaw,**

Now Lizzie frowned. She hoped that Howard was alright. She'd really liked him when she'd met him down in the Underland and didn't want him to suffer.

**insisted on steering so that Mareth could get some rest. Temp went on watch with Zap for light.**

**Before the rest went to sleep, Twitchtip spoke up. "We're getting close now. I can smell rats ahead."**

"**What of the serpents?" asked Mareth. "Do they still sleep?"**

"I wish they'd stayed asleep," Gregor muttered so that only Luxa could hear him.

She glanced at him and noticed that he kept glancing sadly at Boots and herself. "Gregor, we were fine," she tried to reassure him.

"Aurora dislocated her wing!" Gregor reminded her, still keeping his voice low.

Luxa flinched at the reminder, but placed her hand on Gregor's in comfort. "And Twitchtip ended up dying," he added, tears welling up in his eyes.

"It will get better, Gregor," Luxa assured him, turning back to the book, but keeping her hand on his.

"**Yes, but it won't be long before they surface. And they are deadly," said Twitchtip.**

**It really wasn't the last conversation Gregor wanted to hear before he went to bed. Rats . . . serpents . . . deadly . . . especially when he was already preoccupied by words like rager . . . killing . . . Bane. He could not get his mind to settle down. He went in and out of a sort of doze, never really losing consciousness, so he was the first one to rouse when Temp sounded the alarm.**

"**Going, the shiners are, gone!" he croaked.**

"What?" Mrs. Cormaci cried, her eyes widening. "Those little . . . ugh!"

Grace glanced at the older woman warily, hoping she wouldn't say anything inappropriate.

**Gregor sat up and opened his eyes and saw . . . nothing. It was pitch-black. **

Ripred sighed noisily. "You would still be able to see if you -"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. If I'd tried harder to achieve the ability of echolocation," Gregor rolled his eyes.

Ripred glared at him, but said nothing.

**He could hear Howard fumbling around behind him, muttering, "Conniving vile creatures!"**

'_He's much too kind!_' Mrs. Cormaci growled mentally.

**He flipped on the flashlight he always kept right next to his bed. Everyone was stirring now.**

"**What is it? What has happened?" Mareth asked, springing to his feet.**

"**The shiners have deserted!" Howard said, getting a torch lit.**

"**Deserted? They were bound for the entire journey!" said Mareth.**

"**By what? Their honor? They have none. Their word? Equally worthless! **

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. Finally, someone besides a giant talking rat that she could relate to.

**The shiners are bound only by their stomachs, and as we cannot satisfy those, they have broken with us!" said Howard.**

"**But where could they go?" asked Gregor. It was days and days back to where they'd first hooked up with the bugs.**

"**They'll go to the rats," Twitchtip said flatly. "They'll receive food and safe passage home in exchange for information on our whereabouts." She looked around at their dismayed faces. "On the good side, we won't have to listen to them whine anymore."**

Luxa and Gregor smirked at the shocked faces. Ripred's was especially amusing.

And then there was laughter. Everyone was tearing up with mirth and Luxa and Gregor seemed to find this even more entertaining, laughing right along with them. Everyone was glad for the break from tension.

"I didn't know Twitchtip had it in her!" Ripred guffawed loudly, Lizzie giggling right alongside him.

**For an instant, everyone else was too startled to speak. Twitchtip had made a joke! Then, everybody – humans, bats, roach, rat – laughed. If there was one thing they all could agree on, it was how annoying the fireflies had been.**

"**Yes," agreed Luxa. "That will be a blessing." She and Twitchtip eyed each other. "It is a shame you did not get to eat them, though."**

And that was all it toook to get the whole room started again. They were laughing so hard it was almost painful! When they finally calmed down enough, Luxa began to read again.

"**Oh, shiners taste rather nasty," said Twitchtip. "I only threatened them to shut them up."**

"**Well, no one shall miss them, but they have left us with more trouble," said Mareth. "How holds the fuel, Howard?"**

**Howard shook his head. "Not well. Much of it was in the other boat.**

Mrs. Cormaci groaned. "It seems much of everything was on the other boat. How convienant is that?" she turned to Gregor and Luxa. "Why didn't you spread out the supplies evenly?"

Gregor shrugged. "You can't expect me to know, can you?"

Luxa also had no answer. "I was not involved in the preparations," she explained. "The council seemed to believe that the temptation to leave would become to great for me, and that I would do something rash, like chase after the boat."

"Hmmm," Ripred smirked. "I wonder what could have possibly led to that idea? You're normally so well-behaved!"

Luxa did the intelligent thing. She stuck her tongue out at the rat.

"**We will get to the Labyrinth, but we will not have many more hours of light after that."**

**Light . . . life . . . the words were interchangeable to the humans down here.**

"**I have life – I mean, light! I have light, too!" said Gregor.**

"**You have the greatest task ahead of you, Overlander," said Howard. "You must keep your light."**

"**Well, I will, some of it. But I could spread it around. Wait a minute!" Gregor dumped out his bag. There were four flashlights, counting the one he slept with, plus the mini one from Mrs. Cormaci, and a lot of good batteries. He'd used the flashlights very sparingly on the trip since the fireflies were on. There was also that roll of duct tape.**

"**Hey, Luxa, give me your arm! Not the sword one!" he said. Luxa held out her arm curiously. Gregor placed a flashlight on her forearm so it would shine out over the top of her hand. Then he wrapped duct tape around and around, securing the flashlight to her sleeve, but leaving the on/off switch clear. "There! That way you won't have to hold it, and you won't lose it, either."**

Ripred grunted. "I have to admit, Rager. I'm impressed."

**Luxa flipped the flashlight on and shone it about. "Oh, yes, Gregor. This will work well."**

**Gregor fixed up Howard and Mareth with flashlights, too, then attached one to his own arm. He had to use his sword arm, though, since the other was so wrecked from the squid.**

**There was a rustling, and a little hand reached up and patted his stomach. "Me, too, Ge-go. Boots have light, too!"**

"**Sorry, Boots, I'm out of flashlights. Oh, hang on," he said. He took the mini flashlight and taped it onto her sleeve.**

**Very pleased, Boots hurried over to the cockroach. "Boots have light, too, Temp!"**

"**Okay, but you've got to turn it off. Save the light, right?" Gregor said, flipping off her switch. He said it to Boots, but the others, who had also been flashing around their beams, guiltily turned them off. **

Luxa blushed, reading on before anyone could comment.

**Gregor smiled. He could tell they all though the flashlights were pretty cool.**

**He only had about six spare batteries. The Underlanders insisted that he keep them, and he didn't put up much of an argument. Howard was right about Gregor being the guy who had to take down the Bane, and that sure wasn't going to happen in the dark, with him relying on echolocation. **_[1]_

Ripred snorted, clearly amused; even Gregor cracked a small smile, albeit regretful.

**As Gregor was about to turn off his own flashlight, something caught his eye. For days they had been in a huge void, with no land in sight except for that deadly island. Now he could see towering rock walls flanking them on either side. They must be in some kind of channel.**

**Twitchtip's nose was going like crazy. "We will be there in minutes. And Photos Glow-Glow and Zap have done their work. The rats are waiting for us."**

"No-good, lying, bast-" Mrs. Cormaci stopped at the last second, seeming to realize where she was.

"**Can you tell how many?" asked Luxa.**

"**Forty-seven," Twitchtip said without pause. **

Mrs. Cormaci whistled, impressed, and Grace, Steve, and Lizzie all had looks of extreme shock on their faces.

**"They are waiting for us in the tunnels above the Tankard."**

"**What's the Tankard?" asked Gregor.**

"**It's a round, large shaft, very deep, half-filled with water. The serpents sleep on its floor," said Twitchtip.**

"**So, the serpents are some kind of fish?" said Gregor.**

"**No, they breathe air. But they can sleep underwater for long periods," said Howard.**

**Gregor thought of alligators. They could sleep underwater, too. He hoped these weren't giant alligators – the regular-sized ones were scary enough.**

"**I can smell it!" Twitchtip said. She rose up on her back feet, leaning her front feet on the bow. "I can smell the Bane!"**

"I wonder what he smelled like," Lizzie wondered. Everyone looked at her oddly, wondering where the question had come from.

**Up until that moment, Gregor had been secretly half-hoping they'd gotten the whole thing wrong. That maybe the Bane was like a fairy tale or a myth or something, and the rats had just been planting the rumor it was around. But if Twitchtip could smell it . . .**

"**Are you sure?" asked Gregor. "I mean, how do you know it's the Bane and not another rat?"**

"**I can smell its whiteness," said Twitchtip. "Only a flash, here or there. It's deep in the Labyrinth, and there are many layers of stone between us. But it's definitely there."**

"That's . . . wow," Grace said, eyes widening.

"Yeah," Gregor grinned.

**Gregor felt the need to move. He paced up and down the four-foot strip of floor that was available to him. "Okay, so what's the plan I mean, what do we do when we get to this Tanker?"**

Mrs. Cormaci smirked and, seeing Gregor's blush, felt no need to say anything.

"**Tankard," said Howard. "There are several entrances to the Labyrinth in the tunnels above the Tankard. Our original plan involved secretly slipping into one of them and tracking down the Bane on foot. But this was before the shiners turned on us."**

"**So much for Plan A. What's Plan B?" asked Gregor. There was a long pause. "Come on, everybody has a Plan B!"**

"**In all fairness to the council, Overlander, coming up with any plan that brought us this far was difficult,"**

"You know what? I don't like the council." Mrs Cormaci decided.

** said Mareth. "In the Underland, in the event that a plan fails, we usually have two options to fall back on: We may fight or flee."**

"**Flee?" Ahead lay rat-filled tunnels. Behind lay the Waterway with nowhere to land except that island teeming with flesh-eating insects. "There's nowhere to flee!" said Gregor.**

"**That makes our decision simpler," said Howard. He began to pass out swords.**

"**Twitchtip, which entrance betters our chance of survival?"**

"**There's one at the far end of the Tankard. It's right at the waterline. No rat's been in it for years. It may be forgotten, or it may hold some danger that keeps the rats away from it, **

"Let's go with the former," Grace said faintly.

"Don't worry, Mom," Gregor reassured her. "It's the former."

**although I can't detect what that would be," said the rat.**

"**Can you direct us once we enter the Tankard?" asked Mareth.**

"**We are already here," said Twitchtip.**

**Gregor flipped on his flashlight, and the others followed suit. They were floating across what appeared to be a giant, round pool. The surface was as smooth and unbroken as a mirror. There were no beaches; the water went straight up to stone walls on all sides. Tunnel openings dotted the walls, some almost concealed by the waterline; others, hundreds of feet up. In many of them, Gregor could see a large rat.**

"Oh no," Grace groaned.

**No one moved. Not the rats. Not the visitors. An eerie silence surrounded them. Then there was a slight scraping sound from above.**

**Splash! Something landed off to their right, causing a fountain of water to spray into the air. Splash! Splash! The rats were tipping boulders out of the tunnels and sending them hurtling to the water below.**

"Wh-what are they doing?" Grace asked faintly.

"Well, they're not hitting them, are they? That has to be something." Mrs. Cormaci said.

"No," Lizzie said, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I . . . I don't think it's a good thing. They don't seem to be the type to waste their energy and resources like that."

Gregor and Luxa smiled at his sister, proud of her mental abilities.

"**Well, that's weak. None of the rocks are even getting near us," said Gregor. It was true; the boulders were missing them by a mile. He felt a little better, knowing the rats were launching such a worthless attack.**

**Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!**

**Luxa frowned. "Something is wrong here."**

**Mareth nodded. "Yes, it is not like the gnawers to waster their energies on futile attacks."**

"See?" Lizzie asked. Suddenly, she gasped. "Th-the rats! They . . . oh my God!"

"What?" Grace asked, surprised by her daughter's sudden change in attitude.

"It's not - I mean they - they wouldn't-" Lizzie took a breath and tried again. "They trying to wake the serpents!"

"What?" Grace cried. "Luxa read!"

**Howard's eyes widened, and he began waving his arms frantically. "Get the boat up! Fliers! Get the boat up now!"**

**Twitchtip sprang up at almost the same time. "They're waking! They're waking! Fly!"**

**And that's when Gregor put it all together. **

"Your sister figured it out faster than you," Luxa whispered to Gregor.

"Yeah, but she figured it out faster than you, too," Gregor smirked.

**The rats weren't trying to sink their boat with the rocks – they were trying to wake the serpents! Aurora and Andromeda latched on to the front ropes; Ares got his claws around the two loops in the back. They lifted the boat out of the water, spinning in a circle as they rose.**

"**Where fly we?" came from all three bats.**

"**Twitchtip, where lies the tunnel?" asked Mareth.**

"**Stop spinning the boat so fast and I'll tell you!" said the rat. The bats maintained a slower circle, and Twitchtip indicated a tunnel opening opposite the channel they'd come in by. "There! The one shaped like an arch!"**

**Gregor caught it in his flashlight beam. It was only about six feet high, and you could've swum right into it. "But it's half under water! Does it even have a floor?"**

"It's better than nothing!" Grace shouted, obviously frantic.

"**Further in. Look, this is no time to be picky," snapped Twitchtip. "The serpents are -!"**

**Bam! Something hit the side of the boat, ripping away a chunk of it. They were knocked sideways. The bats barely managed to hang on.**

**Gregor thought one of the rats' rocks had made contact. Then he saw it. "Oh!" he gasped. "Oh, geez!"**

**His first thought was, "So, I guess they're not extinct after all." He meant dinosaurs**

"What are . . . dinosawrs?" Luxa asked.

"It can be explained later," Ripred said impatiently.

**but that wasn't quite right. Dinosaurs had the ability to walk on land. This creature propelled itself with flippers. Some kind of aquatic reptile then, but as old as the dinosaurs. And as big as the biggest skeletons he'd seen at the museum in New York City. Its body was a flattened oval. A whiplike tail beat the water, causing waves to roll across the calm pool. The neck was at least thirty feet long, and atop its sinuous, scaly pink length was a bullet-shaped head. There were indentations where eyes might have been, somewhere in its evolution, but they were long gone. What use were eyes to it down here? Its mouth opened, letting loose a low howl that chilled Gregor right down to his DNA. And then his light hit the teeth. Hundreds and hundreds of teeth in rows headed their way. Crunch! Another piece of the boat was gone!**

"Oh my. . . ." Lizzie gasped, turning very pale.

"**Abandon ship!" Mareth choked out.**

**Gregor was impressed he'd managed to form a coherent sentence at all. He grabbed Boots and his pack in one swoop and stumbled for Ares.**

"**On the count of three, everyone jumps!" called Mareth.**

**Gregor realized he meant "jumps off the side of the boat." It was the only way the bats could catch them. He scrambled up onto the edge.**

"**One – two – three!" Gregor felt his legs pushing off the boat, and then it was gone, but almost immediately Ares was under them. The bat dipped and swerved, and Temp landed behind them. The poor roach was shaking like a leaf. Well, who wasn't? Temp began nudging him in the back with his head. Gregor turned and saw the roach had a sword in his mouth.**

"**Oh, man, thanks, Temp!" Gregor said, grabbing the hilt with his good hand. He hadn't even thought to bring it. Some warrior.**

"Good," Grace muttered.

**Everyone's flashlight was on high beam now, which was good, since the single torch that had been lit had just hit the water with a sizzle. A prehistoric nightmare unfolded before them. Half a dozen serpents had broken the surface of the pool, and Gregor had a bad feeling that more were coming. They were swinging their heads and tails through the air, trying to take down whatever they could find. Since they had no eyes, Gregor guessed they had some other direction system. Maybe even echolocation.**

Ripred raised his eyebrow (or . . . where one would be) at Gregor, obviously amused at his thoughts.

**There was no chance of fighting them. It was all Gregor could do to cling to Ares's back while the bat dodged the heads and tails frantically. He caught glimpses of Mareth and Howard on Andromeda, Luxa on Aurora . . . but wait a minute! Where was Twitchtip? Gregor heard a shriek a saw poor Twitchtip dangling by the tail from a serpent's mouth.**

Lizzie gasped.

"**Go, Ares!" he cried, and the bat flew straight for the rat. Gregor lifted his sword to attack when a tail caught Ares broadside and sent them hurtling into the air. Boots flew from his arms. "Boots! No!" he screamed. "Ares! Get her, Ares!" But the bat caught him first.**

"What? But -" Grace gasped.

"Mom! Just wait!" Gregor gasped.

"**Luxa has her!" the bat cried, before Gregor could flip out. "Luxa has her and Temp!"**

Grace sighed, appeased.

"**Get in the tunnels!" Howard shouted as Andromeda whizzed by. "The tunnels!" He was sitting upright on the bat, trying to hold on to an unconscious, bloody Mareth.**

"What?" Lizzie cried. "What happened?"

"It's how he lost his leg," Gregor explained.

Grace groaned. "Gregor . . . you're not helping!'

**Twenty-foot-high waves were rolling across the pool now, smashing into the rock walls. Rats who had not moved quickly enough into their tunnels were screaming in the serpents' mouths. The air was filled with drenching splashes from the impacts of the reptiles' tails.**

**Gregor felt Ares dive. They went straight into the waves, and for a moment he was submerged. When they came up, he was coughing and bewildered. He could feel his bat struggling under the weight of something. They rose in the air, jerking this way and that, as Ares dodged the numerous snapping mouths. Then the bat rocketed toward a stone wall, dipped, and they were inside a tunnel.**

"Oh, thank goodness!" Grace gasped, now hopeful that everyone could get out okay, forgetting, momentarily, that Aurora, Luxa, Temp, and Boots were not there.

**Ares dropped his burden and collapsed. Gregor rolled off his back and hit the floor with a thud. There was light behind them in the tunnel. Howard was rapidly working over Mareth on the ground, while Andromeda hung over them. One of Mareth's pant legs was soaked in blood. In front of him, Gregor saw the shuddering heap of wet fur that was Twitchtip. Blood poured from her nose, which appeared to have been smashed in, and oozed from the stump that had been her tail.**

Ripred gasped._[2] _He knew that, for a rat, losing their tail could be fatal at times. First of all, because of bloodloss, but also because the rat would lose their sense of balance. Unless the rat adapted, and fast, they could fall in battle. And for Twitchtip to lose her sense of smell at the same time. . . .

**There was a sound at the front of the tunnel, and Gregor aimed her flashlight beam, hoping to see Aurora come in with Luxa, Boots, and Temp.**

**Instead, shooting down the tunnel at them were three rows of bared teeth.**

Grace gasped, desperately yanking the book from Luxa and pushing it into Gregor's hands.

* * *

><p><strong>[1] Oh, the irony!<strong>

**[2] Something that probably doesn't happen much.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.**

* * *

><p>Gregor took the book and began to read.<p>

**The sword Temp had saved was still in his hand. **

Grace relaxed, just a little, sighing, "Oh, thank goodness."

**As the jaws were about to snap down on Twitchtip, Gregor vaulted over her and drove the blade straight down into the serpent's tongue. Liquid spurted up into his face. **

Lizzie paled, a green tinge showing up clearly in her cheeks. Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth with both of her hands.

**He stumbled back and slipped into a puddle of Twitchtip's blood. **

Ripred's tail twitched in concern, noticed by no one.

**His feet went out from under him, and he landed against the rat's body. The creature reared up, smashing its head into the tunnel ceiling. Rocks showered down on them. Gregor could physically feel the serpent's primeval roar going through him. It continued crashing its head up and down in pain and rage as it withdrew from the tunnel, the sword still lodged in its tongue. Would more come in? **

Grace paled at the thought. '_He doesn't have a sword now; what'll he do?_'

**"I need another sword!" Gregor shouted, and Howard tossed one up to him. **

And Grace relaxed a bit more.

**He stood crouched before Twitchtip, his senses heightened. He could feel himself buzzing on the edge of going into that rager mode. He fought it, trying not to lose control as he stood there awaiting the next onslaught. **

Ripred smirked, impressed. He wasn't going to tell Gregor that, though.

**It never came. Maybe word had gotten around that if you stuck your head down this tunnel you could mess up your tongue. **

Mrs. Cormaci snickered.

**Or maybe the serpents had found more interesting food.**

Everyone grimaced, thinking of Luxa, Boots, Temp, and Aurora.

**Whatever it was, things were beginning to quiet down out there. The howls became fewer, the splashes died. Gregor unclenched his hands and turned around. Ares was right behind him, providing backup. **

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. She liked that bat.

**Twitchtip had both paws on her nose to staunch the flow of blood. Howard was pounding on Mareth's chest, trying to restart his heart. **

Everyone paled. They didn't need this. Not know. Not here.

**"Mareth!" Gregor ran back to where the soldier lay on the ground. "Come on, Mareth!"**

'_He's alive. He's alive. He's okay. I met him! He'll be fine._' Lizzie chanted to herself, her face just as white as before, though she looked less sick.

**Howard pounded a few more times and pressed his ear against Mareth's chest. "His heartbeat is back! **

Everyone relaxed, glad that Mareth was okay. Or, as okay as you could be while missing your leg.

**What have you in your pack, Overlander?" **

**Gregor dumped his pack on the floor. It held his last batteries, the duct tape, the two candy bars, and a few catch cloths he'd put in handy in case Boots needed a change. Howard ripped off the remains of Mareth's bloodsoaked pant leg, revealing jagged flesh around a gaping wound. **

Here everyone, sans Ripred, Gregor, and Luxa, who had either seen it, or were used to it, turned green. Even Boots who, at her young age, had a vivid imagination and was still paying at least a little attention.

**"A serpent bit him when we went to help Twitchtip." He laid three catch cloths over the wound. ****"Hold them," he ordered Gregor. Then he wrapped the duct tape around the leg to keep them in place. He sat back on his heels and shook his head. "We have to get him back home, if he is to survive. Warm him, Andromeda, while I tend to the rat."**

**Andromeda lay beside Mareth and enfolded him in her wings. "I must take him home. I must take him home."**

Lizzie frowned, upset that Andromeda was freaking out so much.

**Howard grabbed the last two catch cloths and went to Twitchtip. He used one to bandage the stump of her tail. "I'm sorry I had to sever it," he said to the rat. "There was no other way to free you."**

**"I would've bit through it myself if I could have," said Twitchtip.**

"Any rat would've," Ripred said, his own tail twitching slightly, again unnoticed.

**Howard placed the other catch cloth over her nose and wound duct tape around it. "You will have to breath through your mouth, until it heals." The rat nodded.**

**What happened to your nose?" asked Gregor. **

**"Just before Howard cut me free, a serpent crushed it with his tail,"**

Ripred flinched slightly. No one saw.

**said Twitchtip. "I can't smell a thing."**

Mrs. Cormaci groaned. "Great. This is turning out to be just a perfect evening!"

**"You can't smell? said Gregor. Twitchtip would not be able to smell the Bane then, but there was a much more pressing matter. "Then you can't tell, where my sister is, I mean?" **

"Oh, I see." Luxa said mock sternly, grinning. "Your sister is much more important than me, Aurora, _and _Temp."

"But, Gregor," Boots glared. "Temp is inportint!He my _friend_." _[1]_

Gregor smiled at both girls. "Yes, Boots, Temp is very important." Then he sobered. "After all, without him, we wouldn't have succeeded with half the stuff we pulled off."

Grace turned a questioning glance his way, but Luxa and Ripred nodded in understanding as Boots smiled, appeased.

**"Do not fret, Overlander. My cousin and Aurora are an excellent team. I am sure they have all taken refuge in one of the tunnels. said Howard. But he looked uneasy.**

**"I believe they meant to," Twitchtip said, avoiding Gregor's gaze. **

"No," Grace breathed.

**Gregor felt time stop. "You believe they meant to?"**

**Twitchtip hesitated. "It was all very confusing. The serpent was swinging me around and there was so much motion, it was difficult to place any smell."**

**"Luxa and Aurora caught Boots. They caught Temp. Aurora said this to me," said Ares.**

**"Yes, they did. I know their smells were all together. But then... but then... there was water between us," said Twitchtip.**

**"What does that mean? There was water between us?" Gregor said.**

"We went swimming!" Boots giggled.

"Yes," Luxa muttered. "We did, did we not?"

**"It means... I still smelled them. But there was water between us. Many feet of it. Their scent was getting fainter. And that's when the serpent hit my nose and everything went dark," said Twitchtip.**

**"You think... they were pulled under, then?" said Howard.**

**"I don't know for sure. But that would be my guess, if I were forced to make one," said Twitchtip. She looked up at Gregor. "I'm sorry, Overlander."**

**"This did not happen. I will call. I will call for Aurora now!" Ares said, and shot out of the tunnel. **

"Ares is just as freaked out as Gregor," Mrs. Cormaci noted.

"Yeah, but I'd say he took it better than I did." Gregor said.

"What do you mean?"

"Um, you'll see." Gregor quickly began to read.

**No one moved while he was gone. Gregor's body was slowly turning to ice. The numbness started in his feet and began spreading up his legs. Over his hips. Up his stomach. By the time Ares came back and landed beside him, it had reached his rib cage.**

Everyone stilled. Luxa took Gregor's hand, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Gregor?" Grace whispered.

Gregor shook his head and kept reading, ignoring the worried glances everyone was sending him.

**"There is no answer," said the bat. **

**And the ice encircled his heart.**

"_What could turn the warrior weak?/What do burning gnawers seek?_" Mrs. Cormaci quoted. "_Just a barely speaking pup/Who holds the land of under up./Die the baby, die his heart,/Die his most essential part._"

Grace burst into tears as she remembered something said earlier that day. '_"Hold on. You've faced giant roaches, spiders, rats, bats, and you jumped off a cliff, and a _baby _could turn you weak?" "Yep,"_'

Lizzie, though, shook her head. She still didn't believe that Boots was who the prophecy referred to.

_**DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,**_

_**DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART.**_

**They had killed Boots. Nothing could be worse than this.**

Lizzie's mind was working nearly as fast as it had when she had cracked the Code of Claw. '_But the rats didn't kill Boots, so she's obviously _not _the baby. B_ut _there's no other baby to factor in. Unless . . . could that be possible? We've yet to come across the Bane in this book and we're only going off of other people's descriptions. It would also make sense of all the little jokes Luxa, Gregor and Ripred have been making all day._'

**He imagined going back to New York City and walking in the front door of his apartment . . . alone.**

Grace's tears came faster, imagining what that would have been like. She jumped a little in surprise when Luxa reached across Gregor and squeezed her hand comfortingly.**  
><strong>

"**What do you wish to do, Gregor?" Howard asked, after some indistinguishable period of time had passed.**

_**DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,**_

_**DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART.**_

_**DIE THE PEACE THAT RULES THE HOUR.**_

_**GNAWERS HAVE THEIR KEY TO POWER.**_

Lizzie nodded to herself. The prophecy seemed to be supporting her theory.

**They were off celebrating somewhere, the gnawers. Gnashing their ratty teeth and laughing and congratulating one another on how well their plan had worked. On how they had killed his baby sister and broken him in two.**

Ripred knew that the rats would not be off celebrating, especially since Gregor was still there and "PearlieGirlie" was still endangered. But he though that is was best to keep this from Gregor, judging by the look on his face.

**The ironic thing was that, for the first time, Gregor could envision what he was going to do.**

Grace gasped quietly to herself. She, too, could envision what Gregor would do now. And she didn't like it.

"**Gregor?" repeated Howard.**

**The ice had come up over his throat, and his voice was calm and cool.**

Lizzie shivered slightly, imagining what her brother would sound like. His voice was normally so expressive and full of life.

** "I want you guys to go home. Get Mareth back. Twitchtip, too, if you can," said Gregor.**

"**And what will you do, Overlander?" asked Twitchtip.**

**Gregor felt the last bit of warmth disappear as the ice went across his forehead and up over the top of his head. There was nothing left that anyone could do to him now. There was nothing left to fear.**

Gregor jerked in shock when he felt both his arms squeezed until he realized it was just Luxa and his mom. He'd been so caught up in reading the book he'd momentarily forgotten that there were other people in the room.

"**Me?" he said. "I'm going to go kill the Bane."**

Grace squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to envision what her son must have sounded like right then. She gently took the book from him and began to read.

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><p><strong>[1] Yes, the mistakes in spelling are on purpose. :P<strong>

**Se, yeah. Hi. I'm really sorry this isn't the whole chapter, but, better than nothing! And for that, I thank you, soo, SOO much, _OverlyHyperSuperAwesomeChick_, for sending me this! I can't express my gratitude enough, but I shall try by dedicating this chapter to you!**

**For everyone else, please don't be too mad at me for teasing you. I am trying.**

**EDIT: Look who got the book! I had to update right away! I wish I could say I'm working on the next chapter right now, but I shouldn't even be updating this chapter. Stupid homework. Once I'm finished with that, though, I will work on this immediately!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anyone within.**

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><p><strong>Part III The Maze<strong>

"**You cannot. You cannot do it alone," Howard said, with a shake of his head.**

'_No. I couldn't. I needed Ares._'

"**Yes, I can," said Gregor. "Tell them why, Twitchtip."**

Gregor sighed, remembering Howard's words. '_It does not make you immortal. It does not mean you can walk into a maze full of rats alone._' And then Ripred's words, '_. . .there are brand-new ragers, and there are old veteran ragers who have fought in countless wars. And you would be . . . ?_'

**Twitchtip raised one rat eyebrow at Gregor, to see if he was sure. He nodded. "All right, then," she said. "He may stand a chance. He's a rager."**

**The word had an effect on everybody. Ares and Andromeda both ruffled their wings. Howard's mouth dropped open. "A rager?" he said. "How know you this?"**

"**Ragers put out a very specific scent when they fight," said Twitchtip. "It's slight, even for me, but I can detect it.**

Lizzie frowned in thought. She would have thought that ragers would put off a strong scent. She'd have to ask Ripred about that.

** I smelled it the first time I met the Overlander, but later wondered if I'd confused it with Ripred's scent. He'd been fighting as well."**

"**I was hitting the blood balls that day," said Gregor. "That was the first time I felt like that."**

"**Yes, and then when the squid attacked, I was certain about it," said Twitchtip. "I told him he was a rager a few days later, but he denied it."**

**There was a pause, and Gregor could feel the others watching him. "Because I didn't want it to be true. But that doesn't matter, what I want. I don't know what it is, something happens when I fight. Something weird. And if Twitchtip thinks she smells this rager thing on me, she's probably right."**

"**Well, say it is true, Gregor, and you are a rager. It does not make you immortal. It does not mean you can walk into a maze full of rats alone," said Howard.**

"You'd do well to remember that, Rager," Ripred said.

"**He will not be alone," said Ares. "I will be with him."**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled ruefully. Ares seemed like such a great person and she truly wished she had been able to meet him.

"**And I'll lead him into the maze as far as I'm able," said Twitchtip. "I got a good whiff of white fur before I lost my nose. If I can't lead him to the Bane, I can get him close."**

Gregor looked down at his lap. He knew that after that day, he'd never see Twitchtip again. He smiled up at Luxa when he felt her take his hand.

"**Then Andromeda and I will come, too," said Howard.**

"**You're not invited," said Gregor.**

"What?" Grace asked. She believed her son needed all the help he could get. Leaving a healthy person behind seemed dumb. She kept reading before anyone could answer.

"**What?" said Howard.**

"**I don't want you in the maze, Howard. I want you to take Mareth back and tell people what happened. Someone has to. And if I don't come back, I need you to somehow get word to my family," said Gregor.**

Grace smiled slightly, understanding now. She still wished her son had a bit more help, but realized that getting Mareth back to Regalia and getting word to their family was important, too.

"**You are not in charge of this mission," said Howard. "I had orders from Regalia."**

Gregor frowned. If he hadn't sent Howard back, he might not have been held for treason. Then he realized that Howard still would have been, since Gregor would not have allowed him to kill the Bane. And Mareth might not have made it, they might have carried Twitchtip with them. And while that might have saved her, Luxa, Boots, Temp, and Aurora probably would have been killed or Luxa, at least, might've been held for ransom. Thinking back on it, he was glad he'd convinced Howard to leave.

"**Okay, but if you try to follow me, I'll fight you," said Gregor.**

"**You will not stand a chance on foot, fighting a rager on a flier," said Ares.**

"**Especially with a rat on their side," threw in Twitchtip.**

**Howard was starting to lose it now. "Maybe I will take that chance! Maybe Andromeda will, too!"**

"He would not," Luxa sighed. "He is not stupid. He knows that if he tried to fight anyone of you, he would lose. He is just worried."

"**Please don't, Howard. Please go back. I don't want my mom and dad waiting for Boots and me to walk in the door when it's not going to happen. **

Grace felt more tears coming, thinking back to when she had thought that Boots, Gregor, and her husband were never coming home.

**And sooner or later, if we don't show up, I know they'll come looking for us," said Gregor. "And they need to know in Regalia, too. About Luxa. They have to find a new queen of king now, right? Because no matter what Luxa said, Nerissa probably can't handle it. So it will be Vikus, then your mom, and then you. But if you die, it will be -"**

Luxa groaned quietly at the mere thought of Stellovet taking over Regalia. That would be disastrous for everyone involved.

"**Stellovet. Oh, I did not think of that," said Howard.**

'_But Gregor did,_' Ripred thought with a smirk. '_And he's managed to make Howard see it his way and no one got hurt. He'd make a good king._'

"**You going to leave her in charge of Regalia?" asked Gregor.**

"**No, I am not, I am -" Howard ground the palms of his hands into his forehead. Between losing Pandora and Luxa, whom he'd only just found, really, and the responsibility of a kingdom hanging over him - he was clearly overwhelmed. "I do not know what to do. Andromeda, what say you?"**

"**I will not fight the Overlander and risk injuring him. I am taking Mareth home," said Andromeda. "And you should come with me."**

"**Oh . . ." The resistance seemed to go out of Howard. "I cannot fight all of you," he said. He sat there for a few moments, his head bowed. Then he shook it off and tried to get back to business. "Well, then, every second counts if we hope to get Mareth back alive. But Andromeda cannot make the flight without rest, and there is nowhere safe to land."**

Everyone shuddered slightly, thinking of the mite-infested island.

**That was true. They all pondered it, then Ares spoke up. "There are some pieces of the boat in the Tankard. Not large, but they still float."**

"**Maybe you could make them into a lifeboat," said Gregor.**

Luxa opened her mouth, but then seemed to realize that Howard would probably end up asking the question for her.

"**What is this, a lifeboat?" asked Howard.**

Luxa smirked to herself.

"**In the Overland, big boats, like ships and things, have lifeboats attached to them. They're small boats you can get in if your ship sinks or something," said Gregor.**

Luxa nodded in understanding. She wondered if they could fit lifeboats onto the boats in the Underland. . . .

"**If the boat were light enough to carry, and I could rest for a few hours at times, I could make it," said Andromeda.**

**Ares volunteered to search for wreckage.**

"**I'll go with you," said Gregor. He needed to talk to his bat. He waited until they were flying out over the Tankard to speak. "You don't have to do this, Ares. Come after the Bane. I'll go alone."**

Grace winced at the thought of her little boy going into a rat-infested maze all alone.

"**No. We will go together," said Ares. "Besides, the gnawers have killed every reason I had to return to Regalia. If by some strange chance we live and you return home, the silence begins for me."**

Mrs. Cormaci narrowed her eyes in frustration. She wished everybody would just get over themselves and realize that Ares helped them out a lot by saving their precious "warrior" and letting Henry fall to the rocks.

**What the bat said was true. With Luxa and Aurora gone, Ares would have no contact with anyone. He could probably sit in his hideout for years without anyone bothering to check on him. Gregor would go home, his heart dead, and Ares would be as good as banished.**

"**Okay," said Gregor. "We'll go together." He had a feeling they would never have a discussion like this again - about whether one would go into danger without the other. He didn't bother to thank Ares. Somehow they were past thanking each other. Somehow it would almost be like thanking himself. Gregor realized that the journey filled squids and whirlpools and mites and serpents and loss, great loss, had changed them. It had made the oath they had sworn in front of that furious crowd in Regalia real. He remembered the feel of Ares's claw clasped in his hand and thought of the words he'd said with Luxa prompting him.**

"_**ARES THE FLIER, I BOND TO YOU,**_

_**OUR LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE, WE TWO.**_

_**IN DARK, IN FLAME, IN WAR, IN STRIFE,**_

_**I SAVE YOU AS I SAVE MY LIFE."**_

**Ares was his bat. Gregor was Ares's human. They were truly bonded now.**

Mrs. Cormaci smiled. At least Gregor appreciated the bat.

**If there was one positive note, they made a good haul. Ares found three pieces of the boat, and Howard was able to fashion them into a sort of raft using the last few strips of duct tape. It wasn't anything you'd want to try crossing the Waterway on, but when they went down and tested it, it held up under the combined weight of Gregor, Ares, and Howard.**

"**It should do for a few hours at a time," said Howard. "Long enough for Andromeda to sleep a bit."**

Everyone was glad that they'd been able to come up with something.

**Almost as important as the boat wreckage were the two packs they retrieved. They had washed up inside one of the tunnels when the waves were high. The first contained food. The second, to Howard's great relief, was his first aid kit.**

"**Oh, this! This is as good as light itself!" he said. He immediately opened the pack and began to work on everyone. He changed Mareth's and Twitchtip's bandages, dousing the wounds with medicine. He rewrapped Gregor's arm, which was actually showing some improvement,**

Grace sighed in relief and visibly relaxed.

** and dabbed Ares's mite bites with salve.**

And now Mrs. Cormaci sighed in relief.

**Howard insisted Gregor take the rest of the food, since Mareth couldn't eat, anyway, and he and Andromeda could live on raw fish. "And who knows what you will find in the Labyrinth?"**

**Gregor took Mareth's sword; Howard still had his own.**

**Finally, they divided up light. They had two working flashlights; Howard's had died during the serpent attack, and two had disappeared into the deep with Luxa and Boots. So, there was one flashlight per party, but Howard made Gregor take every spare battery. "Even with no light, Andromeda will get us home. You have many more difficulties with which to contend."**

Grace groaned with worry. That was definitely not something she needed nor wanted to hear right now.

**Gregor nodded. He put his candy bars, the food, and the spare batteries in one backpack. He wedged Mareth's sword between two straps. The flashlight was still taped onto his good arm.**

**Andromeda flattened out her back, and they laid Mareth on it. Howard tucked the spare blanket from his first aid kit around him. Then he swung his leg over the bat's neck. "Fly you high, Gregor the Overlander."**

"**Fly you high," said Gregor. Although "Been nice knowing you" seemed more appropriate. **

Gregor felt Luxa's hand twitch slightly in his own and immediately felt guilty for thinking stuff like that.

**He didn't really expect to see Howard again.**

**Andromeda took off, snagging the raft in her claws as she left the tunnel. Almost immediately, they were lost from view.**

**Gregor, Ares, and Twitchtip turned and headed into the tunnel without a word.**

Grace sighed and passed the book to her husband.

* * *

><p><strong>I updated! Yay! Damn, I've missed doing this.<br>**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Underland Chronicles nor anything within.**

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><p>Grace's husband took the book, looking around at the room. Everyone had some degree of sorrow written across their face. Though Lizzie also had one of extreme thoughtfulness. As he wondered what was going through his daughter's head, he began to read.<p>

**Guided by what she remembered of the Labyrinth before her nose was injured, Twitchtip led Gregor and Ares through the maze. Almost at once, the tunnel began to divide. Some paths led to intersections that branched off into four or five directions. Others twisted around like a corkscrew so that it took ten minutes to cover the distance you could've walked in one if the path had been straight. As they moved farther into the maze, the tunnels became even more unpredictable. A narrow passage they could barely squeeze through would suddenly open into a huge cavern that in turn would lead to an obstacle course of boulders.**

Grace groaned silently to herself. '_Great. Just what they need right now. Unpredictability._'

**It was hardest on Ares, since most of the journey had to be made on foot. He hopped along, fluttering, taking tiny, rapid bat steps in the tighter passages and opening his wings with relief when they reached a larger space.**

Mrs. Cormaci looked even sadder than she had moments before. '_Gee, this book is doing wonders for my happiness levels._'

**There were no rats. "They must have witnessed your sister's fate," said Twitchtip. "The gnawers think they have defeated you, and the Bane is safe. But eventually one will get your scent, and then the fight begins."**

**They drove themselves forward for about an hour, then stopped to catch their breath.**

"**You can remember all this? Just from what you smelled from the Tankard?" Gregor asked Twitchtip.**

"That's amazing . . ." breathed Lizzie.

"**Well, that, and the fact that I'm more familiar than most with the Labyrinth.**

"Still cool," Lizzie muttered to herself, turning red.

** I lived here for about a year after I was banished," panted Twitchtip. She was not doing well. The bandages on her nose and tail stump were soaked with blood, and her eyes had a hot, fevered look.**

"Oh, dear." Grace had spent enough time in the hospital while her husband and mother-in-law_[1]_ were there to realize that this was very bad.

"**I thought you lived in the Dead Land," said Gregor.**

"**Not at first. I hid in a cave down by the Tankard. The rats never came there because of the serpents. It wasn't ideal, but it offered more protection than the Dead Land. **

"I can imagine," Mrs. Cormaci muttered.

**Then one day I dozed off gathering mushrooms and a patrol saw me. I had to run, and the only place left to go was the Dead Land," said Twitchtip. "I didn't speak to a soul for years. Then I realized there was another rat around."**

"**Ripred," said Ares.**

"**He let me stay in his nest sometimes, if he was gone. **

Luxa frowned at that. It didn't seem right. From what she knew of gnawers, they were very territorial of their nests. So why had Ripred shared his, even if he wasn't around when she was there?

**You've been near there. It's where you first spoke to him," said Twitchtip. "Now he has a whole band of rats. But I can only stay, he says, if I help you find the Bane," said Twitchtip. "Otherwise, I'll be on my own again." This fear seemed to rouse her. "We have to keep moving."**

**As they took off again, Gregor found himself thinking of Ripred. Letting Twitchtip stay near him in the Dead Land, letting her use his nest and join his pack, these could almost seem like acts of kindness. But were they? Everything was conditional on Ripred getting something back from Twitchtip. Ripred knew he could use her and that incredible nose. Twitchtip was desperate to belong somewhere again. They had mutual need. Like Ripred and Gregor did. For Twitchtip, like Gregor, the question would be what would happen when that need ran out.**

Lizzie's brow furrowed in concentration. Ripred wasn't at all as bad as Gregor made out. Why did her brother have to keep judging him?

**Or was he being too hard on Ripred? He seemed to be friends with Vikus and Solovet. There had been moments when Gregor thought he'd sensed a genuine compassion in the rat, behind the sarcasm and the snarls.**

Lizzie smiled. Her brother would see reason yet.

**Maybe things were more complicated for ragers. They certainly were for Gregor.**

**Twitchtip began to stumble, and Gregor could see she was about to give out.**

Gregor stilled, knowing what was coming up.

** She lost her footing one last time, fell on her belly, and did not get up. He squatted down beside her. Her breathing was rapid and shallow.**

"**I can't go on," she said. "It doesn't matter - I'm at the end of my scent map, anyway. Ahead, the path splits in three directions. Your guess is as good as mine," she said.**

"Her's would probably have been a bit better," Gregor mumbled to himself.

"**Are we supposed to just leave you here?" said Gregor.**

"**I'll rest awhile. If the rats don't find me, I may be able to make my way back to my old cave. But, you . . . you have to move forward now. You are close to the Bane. I know it. The rats will smell you soon. Go . . . go . . . ," she gasped.**

**Gregor pulled out a hunk of meat and some stale bread for her. What was there to say? "Fly you high, Twitchtip."**

**She laughed, and blood dripped from the bandage on her nose. "You don't say that to rats."**

"**What do you say in a situation like this?" asked Gregor.**

"**Like this? Run like the river," said Twitchtip.**

"**Run like the river, Twitchtip," said Gregor.**

"**You, too," said Twitchtip.**

**And Gregor and Ares left her lying on the tunnel floor. **

Luxa, realizing Gregor's discomfort, squeezed his hand. "Gregor, I know you feel badly of yourself for leaving her behind, but had you not, it is highly possible that your sister and I would have perished."

Grace stilled. '_What?_' she thought frantically. '_Boo_ts _could have . . . could have died?_'

**When they came to the place where the tunnel split in three, they paused. Gregor had an image of Twitchtip, lying in the darkness, bleeding to death.**

Gregor closed his eyes. Visions of a piece of paper flashed through his head. '_/ |||\ |\\ / |/ / / |\\ \|. ||\ |\\ \ ||\. |\\ \\. \| |\\ /._ . . . _UXJUDIUJQ. FJEF. JP. QJU. . . . Twitchtip died in pit._'

Luxa noticed the anguish on Gregor's face. "Gregor? What is the matter?"

"It's just, we left her there to die. Afterward we'd always thought that she'd died a hero's death, fighting off the gnawers for you guys in the tunnels. But she died alone, trapped in a pit for who know how long."

"Gregor, though she may have died in a pit, she certainly died a hero's death. She fought off the gnawers for us so that we could escape. And I am sure that any information they drilled her for was not given."

Gregor smiled at Luxa, appreciative of her support.

"Luxa's right, Gregor. And from what we've read, I don't believe she would have wanted you to feel this badly over her expense." Lizzie smiled sadly.

Gregor and Luxa jumped slightly, not thinking anyone would have heard them, but Gregor smiled at his sister. He supposed she may be right.

**Ares read his thoughts. "She is strong and cunning, to have survived in the Dead Land on her own. And she has a place near enough to hide."**

"**I know," said Gregor.**

"**She loathes her life alone.**

'_She died alone,_' Gregor thought, miserably.

** Your killing the Bane is her only hope. If I were Twitchtip, I would not want you to come back," said Ares.**

**Gregor nodded and surveyed the tunnels. "Which one looks good to you?"**

"**The one on the left," said Ares.**

**They followed it for a while, hit another corkscrew, and somehow wound up back at the stop where the three tunnels met.**

"**On further reflection, I favor the right," said Ares.**

**They took the right tunnel and within five minutes had reached a dead end and retraced their steps to the opening.**

"**I think you should choose," said Ares.**

**They headed down the middle tunnel and after about twenty minutes arrived in a large, circular cavern. It was almost perfectly cone-shaped, with the walls slanting up fifty feet to meet at a single point at the top. Around the base, at least a dozen tunnels led out from it like the spokes on a bicycle wheel.**

"**Oh, great," said Gregor. "Now which way?"**

**Ares had no idea. "But, Overlander, it has been many hours since we fed. If we are to continue, we must eat."**

Grace nodded. She was glad _someone_ had thought to eat.

**When had they last eaten? Gregor tried to think back – back through the time with Twitchtip, through the serpent attack, through the passage into the Tankard, through Temp's voice waking him, through the night to that evening when they were all together. He'd eaten a slab of raw fish and given Boots all his bread and meat.**

"**We shut eyes?" he heard her little voice say, and a hot pain stabbed him in the heart. He took a deep breath, pushed Boots out of his mind, and imagined the rats laughing. The ice sealed back over his chest.**

Grace squeezed her eyes shut as she felt tears well up. She did not want to read about her son like this. He should be a happy, carefree boy playing with his friends on weekends. Not losing his innocence because he believes his friends and sister have been killed. If only her husband hadn't gone to play his saxophone in the laundry room, then none of this would have happened.

"**You're right. We have to eat," Gregor said, and opened the pack. They sat on the stone floor, choking down the dry food, washing it down with water from a leather bag that looked like a wineskin.**

"**There is something wrong about it. My still being alive," Ares said out of the gloom.**

"He really is a lot like you, Gregor. Feeling as though you don't deserve to live because the people you care about are gone," Mrs. Cormaci noticed.

Gregor's parents flinched, not wanting to hear things like that, but Gregor pondered what Mrs. Cormaci had said and wondered if she could be right.

"**How do you mean?" asked Gregor.**

"**When Henry and Luxa and Aurora are no longer. How many days ago was it that you first fell?" asked the bat.**

"**I don't know. Maybe five or six months," said Gregor.**

"**There was a match. Henry and I had scored seven times. A feast was planned that night for Nerissa's birthday. **

Luxa looked pained. "I had forgotten about that. It was all so long ago. What would have happened, I wonder, had your father never fallen?" she asked Gregor.

"A lot could be different," Lizzie said. "For one, in some alternate universe, had our dad not fallen to the Underland, Gregor may never have been the Warrior. Or, if in this alternate reality, he was still destined to become the Warrior, Gregor, and possibly Boots, might still have fallen. What would've happened then, I wonder, when they had no quest to go on to save our dad?"

Everyone looked pensive, thinking of all the different possibilities that an alternate universe might create.

**The rats seemed far away. And then you ran into the arena with your sister and the crawlers, and nothing has ever been the same. What happened to that world? How did it change so quickly?" said Ares.**

**Gregor knew what he meant. His world had completely transformed the night his dad disappeared. And it had never been right since. "I don't know. But I can tell you this, that world - it's not ever coming back."**

"**I let my bond die. I am an outcast. Luxa and Aurora are gone. It seems a crime for me to be alive," said Ares.**

"**It wasn't your fault, Ares. Not any of it," said Gregor. "It's like Vikus said to me once, we just all got trapped in one of Sandwich's prophecies."**

"So how do we get unstuck?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.

"It may be too late for that," Luxa sighed.

"Just as long as there are no more prophecies about anyone in this family, we'll be fine," Grace said firmly.

Ripred smirked. "Well . . ."

"Ripred! Do not joke about something like that!" Luxa reprimanded the large rat.

"Why not? You and Gregor both know how much I believe in some old guys prophecies. Gregor even agrees with me!"

Despite the rat's teasing demeanor, Grace was still very worried. "There aren't anymore prophecies about us, are there?"

Luxa sighed. "I very much wish I could say no, but we have no way of telling. We don't know what any of the prophecies may be about, until they've come to pass."

Grace grimaced, but tried not to think about it too much.

**This did not seem to cheer Ares up much. For a while he was silent, then his black eyes caught and held Gregor's gaze. "Will it make us feel any better, do you think, to kill the Bane?"**

'_Perhaps it would have,_' Gregor thought. '_If you hadn't died._'

"**I don't know," said Gregor. "But I don't see how it could make us feel any worse."**

**Ares's head lifted sharply in a manner Gregor had begun to recognize.**

"**Rats?" Gregor asked.**

"**Two of them. Coming at a run," said Ares.**

**In seconds, Gregor was on Ares's back. The bat shot up into the cone, and they were circling as the rats ran in. There were two, as Ares had predicted, with mud-gray coats and gnashing teeth.**

"**There he is!" cried one rat.**

"**We were fools to leave him with Goldshard," said the other.**

"Who was left with Goldshard?" Lizzie questioned.

"I believe they're referring to a certain white rat," Ripred told her.

"But why would a giant white rat need to be given a babysitter?"

"That, I'm not answering. Not yet, at least."

"It'll make sense, eventually." Luxa reassured the younger girl.

'_It's beginning to make sense now,_' Lizzie thought, but she said, "I'm sure it will."

"**That will be remedied as soon as these are dead!" growled the first.**

**Although Gregor was well out of range, the rats began to leap for him immediately. They could not reach him, but they prevented Ares from flying down low enough to escape through one of the tunnels. Eventually, Gregor would have to fight them, and it was best to do it now, before Ares tired or more rats showed up.**

"Very good, Rager. Now you're thinking!" Ripred smirked._[2]_

**As he pulled his sword from the strap on his pack, the rager sensation began. He didn't fight it this time. The rats broke up into fragments in his vision, as if he were looking at their reflection in a shattered mirror, but only certain parts were lit. He caught glimpses of an eye, a spot under a raised paw, a neck . . . and somewhere in his brain, he understood that these were his targets.**

Grace shook her head sadly. Why _her_ son?

"**Now," said Gregor quietly. And Ares began to dive.**

* * *

><p><strong>[1] She is her mother-in-law, isn't she? Tell me if she isn't.<strong>

**[2] I wanted to have him grinning, but that didn't seem very Ripred-like. Unless, of course, it's Lizzie being smiled at.  
><strong>

**First thing's first: I'm so, so sorry! I can't express how bad I feel about not being able to update! I don't want to make excuses, but I also don't want y'all to believe I was just too lazy to work on my story. I wont bore you with details, but I _have _been busy and unable to update, much as I wanted to. Hopefully this chapter will be appeasing enough as I get to work on the next one.  
><strong>

**On another point, I feel as though I haven't been giving Gregor's father enough attention. Any ideas?**

**As for the next chapter, I'm working on it as you read this! Hopefully it'll be up soon!  
><strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Underland Chronicles nor anything within.**

* * *

><p>Lizzie took the book as her dad passed it to her. She began reading quickly.<p>

**Gregor was almost within striking distance of one of the rats when something caused Ares to veer straight upward. A third rat with an unusual gold coat had bolted into the cone right beneath them.**

'_That must be Goldshard,_' Lizzie thought, startled. '_But didn't the other rat say that she'd been left with the Bane?_'

"**That makes three to fight," Gregor thought as Ares shot up and off to the side, but as the ground came back into view, he could see the gold rat tearing the throat out of one of his attackers. **

Lizzie made a squeaking sound from the back of her throat, like a mouse being trod on. Scanning ahead and seeing stuff she did _not _want to read, she pushed the book at Ripred, who took it without question, and covered her ears, squeezing her eyes shut, too.

Grace was instantly on guard. Something bad must happen if Lizzie was freaking out. She listened, tensed, as Ripred began to read.

**Then it spun around, blood flying from its muzzle, to face the other gray rat.**

**Gregor shook his head slightly, to clear it. What was going on?**

"**Don't be an idiot, Goldshard! He's come to kill the Bane!" snarled the gray rat.**

"**I would rather have the Bane dead than have it trust you," the gold rat hissed back. The rat's voice was slightly higher pitched, like Twitchtip's, and Gregor felt certain it was female.**

"**All you guarantee is your own death!" The gray rat crouched down to lunge.**

"**Someone will die, Snare, the question is who?" **

"Both of them," Gregor muttered to himself.

Luxa heard and quickly turned to him. "_Both _of them?" she mouthed.

Gregor nodded glumly and turned back to the book.

**said Goldshard. As Snare sprang toward her, she went into action.**

**Gregor had never seen a full-scale rat fight before. Ripred had killed two rats in a tunnel en route to rescuing his dad, but they hadn't had time to fight back. Then the big, scarred rat had taken on some of King Gorger's soldiers. But Gregor hadn't witnessed it because he was busy leaping to what he thought would be his death. Now he had a bird's-eye view.**

Grace grimaced. '_Great._' She figured that this was why Lizzie had reacted so badly. She went over to her oldest daughter and rubbed her back comfortingly, ignoring the fact that she was sitting next to a giant, talking rat, reading out in gruesome detail the fight between two more giant talking rats.

**When Goldshard had killed the first time, she'd had the element of surprise on her side. This time her opponent was on the offensive. And Snare, who Gregor was pretty sure was a male, was a lot bigger than she was.**

**The combat was vicious. The rat attacked each other in violent bursts. They'd circle for a minute, looking for an opening, then one of them would leap and there would be a blur of teeth and claws. As they pulled apart to circle again, both would have new wounds. Snare lost an eye. Goldshard's ear dangled from a shred of fur. You could see the bone in Snare's shoulder. Goldshard's left paw was snapped in two.**

Everyone, even Gregor, looked disgusted at the words. Lizzie squeaked again and pushed her hands harder against her ears.

Only Ripred appeared to be unaffected by what he was reading and calmly continued.

**Finally, the gold rat came in on her opponent's blind side and locked her fangs on his neck. In the final throes of death, Snare got his hind feet between their bodies and slashed open the length of Goldshard's belly. **

Gregor stilled. He remembered a battle similar to this. '_As the Bane sank his teeth into Ares's neck . . . For a moment, they hung there, interconnected, supported by teeth and swords and claws. . . . Ares still dangled from the Bane's jaws. . . . The entire front of his neck had been torn off. . . . "Ares? Ares? Don't go, Ares, okay? Don't. Ares?_' Gregor let out a small cry of anguish, curling up into himself and pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to keep the images out._[1]_

Everyone turned to him, startled by his sudden reaction. Luxa was the first and only person to understand. She wrapped her arms around him as she recalled the shiners' description of Ares. '_ . . . throat torn open, blood everywhere. It was awful._' She imagined that this battle was just similar enough to freak Gregor out.

Luxa noticed everyone's questing gazes and shook her head at them, mouthing to Ripred to keep reading.

**She lost her grip, staggered back, and collapsed. Her intestines spilled out on the ground. **

Mrs. Cormaci and Gregor's parents all turned slightly green. Luxa grimaced, thinking how awful that must have been for Gregor to watch. She tightened her grip on him as she noticed him shaking slightly.

**The rats lay a few feet apart, eyes locked in hate, bodies helpless. With a terrible gurgling sound, Snare suffocated in his own blood.**

Lizzie gave another small cry of distress. Luxa turned a concerned gaze to Gregor when she felt him jerk.

Gregor remembered blood. '_The blood was leaving his body fast. Seeping out of his chest and mingling with Ares's blood, then running onto the ground to join the Bane's. . . ._'

**Goldshard turned her gaze to Gregor. The look was pleading, and he was sure she wanted to say something to him. "Don't . . . ," she whispered. But before she could finish, her eyes glazed over, and she stopped moving.**

Lizzie startled when her mother nudged her a bit. She glanced up at her and asked her with her eyes if it was over. Receiving a nod, she uncovered her ears, noticing her brother for the first time. She turned to her mom. "What . . . ?"

Grace shook her head. "I don't know," she choked out.

"**What just happened?" Gregor blurted out.**

"**I do not know," said Ares.**

"**Are they dead?" asked Gregor.**

"**Quite dead. All three of them," the bat replied. He coasted down to the ground, avoiding the pools of blood that were spreading out from the rats' bodies.**

Luxa jumped a little when she heard Gregor muttering to himself. She only caught bits of it, but she didn't like what she heard. "Ares? . . . Don't go. . . . Ares? . . . So much . . . blood. . . ."

Luxa ran her hand up and down Gregor's back. "Gregor? It - it will be alright. You shall see. We will make it better. Maybe when we have completed the books it will be better."

She felt Gregor shaking. It was a while before he responded. " . . . Maybe. But I don't see how it could ever get better."

"I know you do not. You forget, I felt just as badly after my parents were killed. I understand."

Gregor gave a bitter laugh, muffled because his head was still on his arms. "Yeah. I know. I'll bet Ripred understands, too."

Luxa shot a confused look at Ripred, who, to her surprise, looked startled. He must have known what Gregor was talking about.

Lizzie gasped. She, too, knew what Gregor was referring to. "Gregor . . . how?" Lizzie started to ask her brother, but Ripred quickly kept reading before anyone could question him.

"**Do you know who they are?" asked Gregor. "Did you recognize their names? Goldshard? Snare?"**

"**Not Goldshard," said Ares. "I have heard of Snare. He was one of Gorger's generals. He was out fighting the war when Gorger fell. He must have joined with the Bane then. It would make sense. Whoever is close to the Bane would have much power when he becomes king," said Ares.**

**Gregor hadn't spent much time thinking about the rats' political struggles, but now that he did, something seemed strange. "So why hasn't the Bane become king yet? You'd think a rat as big and strong as he is would have taken over by now," said Gregor. "What's he waiting for?"**

"Perhaps," Lizzie said, voicing for the first time her suspicions. "Perhaps it is because he is not as big and strong as everyone had been led to believe."

Ripred and Luxa turned startled looks to the girl. How did she know? Gregor's shaking even slowed a bit as he took in what his sister had said.

"Lizzie? What do you mean?" Mrs. Cormaci asked the young girl.

Lizzie shook her head. "We're probably all about to find out, so my telling you would be pointless."

"**Even the Bane must gather an army around him," said Ares. "He has his own enemies among the rats. Ripred, for instance. He wants the Bane dead."**

"Of course I did. Only problem being that the Warrior over here has a heart." Ripred said. His tone was mocking, but his eyes showed sympathy when he glanced at Gregor.

Luxa glared up at him. "I don't see how having a heart could be a problem, Ripred."

"Well, of course not." Ripred smirked and kept reading.

**That was true. Part of Ripred's plan for his own rise to power included killing the Bane. Snare had wanted to keep the Bane alive, but Goldshard was willing to let Gregor kill it rather than let it trust Snare.**

"Any smart person would have made that decision," Ripred commented, knowing personally what Snare was like.

"I'd rather have him trust Snare than Twirltongue," Gregor muttered, almost incomprehensibly.

Ripred smirked ruefully. "Yeah, that's true. But you took care of her."

"No. _PearlieGirlie_ did."

"Really?" Ripred had to admit. He was impressed. "How'd you manage that?"

Gregor grimaced, though no one saw. '_Where's Twirltongue? Where did she go? Twirltongue? Twirltongue? She's dead . . . She's dead . . . You killed her!_ _Just like you killed my mother!_' He sighed softly. "You'll see."

**There was something else about Goldshard. That last look she had given him. Like she was begging him, almost. What was it the rat had wanted to say to him? Don't? Don't what? Hurt her? It was a little too late for that.**

**Ares's head snapped around to the tunnel entrance.**

"**How many?" asked Gregor.**

"**Just one, I think," said Ares. "It is hard to tell. The path spirals." His chin jerked up again. This time, Gregor did not have to ask; he had heard the scratching himself. The sound stopped. Nothing emerged from the tunnel. Suddenly Gregor knew why.**

"It's the Bane," Lizzie breathed. She couldn't believe it. The entire book boiled down to this moment and, if she was correct in assuming that the Bane was still only a pup, it was going to be very . . . interesting.

"**It's the Bane," he whispered to Ares. The bat gave a nod of agreement. It had to be. The other rats would simply attack, but the Bane knew it was being hunted. By a human. By an Overlander. By the warrior.**

**The words of "The Prophecy of Bane" came back to Gregor.**

_**HEAR IT SCRATCHING DOWN BELOW,**_

_**RAT OF LONG-FORGOTTEN SNOW,**_

_**EVIL CLOAKED IN COAT OF WHITE**_

_**WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?**_

**Yes, he would. That was what the warrior had come to do.**

"No," Grace sighed. Her son shouldn't _have _to kill anything. Or anyone.

**There was another faint scratch. It was in there then. Just a few feet away. Waiting.**

**The tunnel mouth was small, only about five feet high and four feet wide. There would be no flying in on Ares. The Bane must know that. It wanted to lure him in alone. Okay, then. He'd face it alone.**

When Gregor winced, Luxa, knowing what he was thinking, pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck. "Gregor," she whispered. "You very nearly died fighting him _with _Ares. I do not believe you would have made it, had you been alone."

"Yeah, but Ares would have lived."

"So would the Bane. And then you would be dead and the Underland in ruins. Do not pretend to yourself that everything would have been better had you gone it alone."

**Gregor slid the pack off his shoulders and onto the ground. He didn't want anything restricting his movements. He checked the switch on his flashlight; it was already on high beam. Gripping his sword, he began to move toward the tunnel.**

**Ares's wing came up to stop him. "You cannot fight him in there, Overlander."**

"**Well, he's not coming out," said Gregor.**

"**Wait, then," said Ares.**

"**For what? Another bunch of rats to show up?" said Gregor.**

'_Why does he have to be so logical about this?_' Grace thought desperately.

**Ares dropped his wing reluctantly.**

"**Look, I've got a feeling it was supposed to be this way, anyway. Like I was supposed to do it alone," said Gregor. **

"I should've remembered that for later," Gregor mumbled to himself, making sure Luxa couldn't hear.

**"But you be ready, because after I kill it, we've got to get out of here fast. Okay?"**

"**I will be ready," said Ares. He extended his claw, and Gregor grasped it with his hand.**

**Then Gregor turned to the tunnel. In the dozen paces it took him to reach the opening, he could feel himself slipping into rager mode, the heightened senses, the rush of adrenaline, the selective vision. Every molecule in his body was preparing to kill.**

**He moved swiftly inside and almost immediately encountered the spiral Ares had mentioned. Another corkscrew-like path. With his bad hand tracking along the wall and his good one leading with his sword, he went around one, two, three full turns and burst out into a square chamber.**

**It was trying to hide from him, the Bane. He caught just a glimpse of white fur, a flash of pink tail in a cave off to the side of the chamber.**

**Gregor thought of Luxa, who would never be queen, of Twitchtip bleeding on the ground, of his dad crying on the phone, and of Boots . . . sweet, trusting Boots . . .**

Grace sniffed, feeling tears come to her eyes. Her family and their friends shouldn't have to suffer like this.

**Heart pounding, blind to everything except that patch of fur, he lunged toward the cave. He raised the hilt in the air, flipping the sword so it would come down point first, at an angle. His bad hand joined his good one, and with every ounce of strength he drove the blade toward the Bane.**

Everyone held their breath, waiting for what would come next.

**But just before the point made contact, the creature made a sound that hit Gregor like a cannonball.**

"_**Ma-maa!**_**"**

"I knew it!"

* * *

><p><strong>[1] So, yeah. I don't know how well that moment went. Still kinda' iffy about it, so tell me if it was okay.<strong>

**If anyone thinks that Gregor's reaction to this was too much, tell me (give me a good argument, too) and, if I'm convinced, I'll try to change it as best I can.**

**10 virtual cookies to whoever can guess who shouted "I knew it!" Nah, just kidding. We all know who did. :)**

**EDITED: 1/25/2012  
><strong>


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles nor anything within.**

* * *

><p><em>"I knew it!"<em>

Everyone immediately turned to Lizzie (for of course it was she who had figured the prophecy out), with mixed expressions on every face. Luxa, Ripred, and Gregor (who had actually lifted his head off his arms, though his eyes were rather red) all looked amused and slightly awed that she had known what was coming.

Mrs. Cormaci and Gregor's parents, however, looked completely confused. What did Lizzie know that Gregor, Luxa, and Ripred also seemed to know?

And Boots . . . really only wanted to know why her sister was shouting. It seemed inconsequential, so she went back to talking happily to herself in Crawler.

Lizzie ignored all the looks she'd been given and quickly passed the book the Ripred, who, at a glance from Grace, quickly started reading.

**Gregor turned the sword at the last second, driving it into the stone wall of the cave with such force that the blade snapped off near the hilt and clattered to the floor. His teeth rattled at the impact.**

Lizzie winced (still ignoring the looks being given to her by her parents and Mrs. Cormaci); that sounded painful.

**He fell back from the cave. "Boots?" he said hoarsely.**

"What?" Grace shouted.

She was quickly shushed and Ripred continued to read.

** But he knew it wasn't Boots's voice.**

"Then what . . . ?" Grace looked just as confused as Mrs. Cormaci, but her husband seemed to have figured it out.

** There'd just been something in it that was so like how Boots had sounded when she was upset, the pitch, the distress, and the way she'd break that word into two long syllables. "**_**Ma-maa!**_**"**

**The chamber reeled around his head. Where was the Bane? What was that white furry thing a few yards away? Because it sure wasn't some ten-foot rat trying to attack him!**

"Wait. Stop right there. You mean to tell me that this giant, bloodthirsty rat everyone's been talking about . . . is a baby?" Mrs. Cormaci asked, astounded. _[1]_

She was, of course, ignored, since no one had time to even consider her answer before Ripred was reading again.

**Gregor forced himself forward and shone the flashlight into the cave. Huddled against the wall, shaking in fear, was a small, white rat. Suddenly it all made sense to him - why almost nothing was known about the Bane, why it had not taken over the rat kingdom, why it had not attacked him. It was only a baby!**

And now, finally, Ripred paused in his reading, letting questions be asked.

Almost immediately, Luxa turned to Lizzie. "How did you figure it out?"

"You mean besides paying attention to all the hints you, Gregor and Ripred have been given?" Lizzie smiled. "The prophecy really helped me out."

"The prophecy?" Mrs. Cormaci asked. "But . . . the Underlanders have had that prophecy for decades. How could you just figure it out?"

"Well, first off the line, '_JUST A BARELY SPEAKING PUP_'. Boots is not a pup, she's a baby."

"Yes, but Sandwich could have used pup to rhyme, or to show that rats would be prominent in this prophecy." Grace argued.

"That's true. Which is why I kept listening. Also the lines, '_DIE THE BABY, DIE HIS HEART,/DIE HIS MOST ESSENTIAL PART./DIE THE PEACE THAT RULES THE HOUR.'_. This one was also tricky and not completely precise. But the wording could be taken to mean that were this baby to die, then Gregor's heart, his 'most essential part', too, would die. And if the Bane were to be killed, the humans would never have any chance at peaceful negotiations_[2]_ with the rats."

"Very good, Lizzie." Ripred smirked at Gregor, who was smiling proudly at his sister. "You see, Gregor? She pays far more attention than you do."

"Hey, you didn't know that the Bane was going to be a baby, either!" Gregor protested.

"But for Lizzie to figure this out so easily . . ." Luxa trailed off in awe. "This is truly amazing."_[3]_

**Still, it was the Bane. He was supposed to drain its light. His blade had broken off, leaving a jagged daggerlike weapon in his hand. It would be so easy to kill the creature in front of him. But . . . but . . .**

"_**Ma-maa!**_**"**

**But it sounded just like Boots!**

"'_Die the baby, die his heart,_'. Oh, it all makes so much sense now!" Grace cried.

"**Oh, geez. Oh, geez," Gregor said, and tossed aside what remained of his sword. He knelt down and reached out his hand to pat the thing. "It's okay. You're okay, baby."**

"And to think that this cozy little scene will never happen again . . ." Ripred sighed mockingly. "Alas, what a shame!"_[4]_

Luxa glared at the gnawer when Gregor flinched, but was glad to see that Gregor could at least attempt to smile at the joke.

**The rat shuddered in terror and pressed back against the wall, wailing its head off. "**_**Ma-maa! **__**Ma-maa!**_**"**

"**Shh! Shh! It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Gregor said soothingly "Ares!"**

**He shouldn't have shouted. He'd scared it again, and now it was sobbing.**

**Ares scampered out of the last curve and wobbled into the chamber. "What is it? Where is the Bane?"**

"**In here," Gregor said, gesturing to the cave. "And we've got a problem."**

"**What? What?" Ares had come in ready to fight to the death, and now he was completely disoriented. "What is the problem?"**

"**This is the problem," said Gregor. He leaned down and scooped up the baby rat in his arms. It weighed about as much as a full-grown cocker spaniel.**

Lizzie suppressed the urge to coo at the mental image of the baby rat, since it seemed inappropriate.

** One day it probably would be ten feet tall. But today, he could pick it up and rock it. He turned to show Ares.**

"**What is that? That is not the Bane!" said Ares.**

"**Actually, I think it is. Or at least, it's a baby Bane," said Gregor.**

"**I do not believe it! That is some decoy. Some trick of the gnawers to lure us into a trap so that they may destroy us!" said Ares.**

"I wonder what would have happened if the rats _did _have two white rats?" Mrs. Cormaci pondered aloud.

Gregor shuddered at the idea of having to fight off _two _giant white rats.

"Perhaps, had that happened, one of them might have turned out . . . good?" Lizzie asked, hesitantly.

Everyone thought about what that might've been like until Ripred shrugged, said, "Well, there's no use wasting time over it, since it didn't happen", and continued to read.

"**I don't think so. I mean, look at its coat. How many white rats have you ever seen?" asked Gregor.**

"**None. Save this," said Ares. "But perhaps it is not a rat! Perhaps it is a mouse they have captured and used to deceive us! I have seen white mice!"**

**Gregor examined the baby, but he was no rodent expert. He held it up for Ares to inspect. "You take a look. Is it a mouse?"**

"**No. It is most definitely a gnawer," said Ares.**

"**So, you think there are two white rats?" said Gregor.**

"**Yes. No. I do not know. Two white rats at one time, it is highly improbable. It must be the Bane. Ohhh. Oh, Overlander. What are you going to do with it?" said Ares.**

"He's going to force the child on some poor, defenseless, kind-hearted person instead of taking care of the thing himself." Ripred frowned.

"I did? I was under the impression that I gave the baby to _you_, Ripred." Gregor grinned.

Ripred scowled when Lizzie giggled, and continued with the book.

"**Well, I can't kill it, can I? I mean, it's just a baby!" said Gregor.**

Luxa sighed ruefully. If only the Bane could have thought like that when he tried to kill off all the nibblers _and _all the humans.

"**Aha! I doubt that argument will hold much water in Regalia!" said Ares. Gregor had never seen him off-balance. The bat was fluttering around the chamber, so agitated that he bumped into a wall.**

"**Hey, you bumped into something!" said Gregor. The bats never bumped into anything.**

"**Can you blame me? I am . . . we are . . . do you have any idea what you hold in your arms?" said Ares.**

"**The Bane, I guess," said Gregor.**

Ripred snorted, "You guess?" He shook his head, amused, and went back to the book.

"**Yes! Yes! The Bane! The scourge of the Underland! The creature who may well cause the extinction of fliers, humans, and countless others. What we do at this moment determines the fate of all who call the Underland home!" said Ares.**

"Dun, dun, dun!" Mrs. Cormaci shouted, trying to raise the spirits. It didn't work.

"**What am I supposed to do, Ares? Run my sword through its head?**

Lizzie squeaked. '_How awful!_'

** Look at the thing!" The Bane wiggled out of his arms and ran for the tunnel. "Hey! Wait a minute! Hold on, you!"**

**Gregor chased the baby rat through the corkscrew curves and out of the tunnel. What he saw made his heart ache.**

**The little white rat was trying to curl up in the curve of Goldshard's neck. "**_**Ma-maa," **_**it whimpered. **_**"Ma-maa." **_**Getting no response, it pawed frantically at the dead rat's face. **_**"Ma-maa!"**_

"Oh!" Lizzie's eyes filled with tears as she covered her face with her hands. It was just so . . . heart-rending._[5]_

**He heard the rustle of Ares's wings behind him. "So, that's it. She was its mom. And when she said 'Don't' to me . . ." Gregor had to stop for a minute. "She was trying to say, 'Don't kill my baby.'"**

"**She must have been desperate to keep it from Snare. He would have taken the pup and raised it to do his bidding," Ares said quietly.**

"What a wonderful father," Gregor grimaced. _[6]_

"Snare was his father?" Lizzie gasped. Even _she _could never have figured that out!

Ripred nodded, scowling at the memory of the deceptive gnawer. He'd never liked Snare.

**Blood was staining the baby's white fur. Its cries were piteous. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, Ares's head whipped up.**

"**How many this time?" asked Gregor.**

"You are catching on quickly," Luxa smiled.

"**A dozen, at least," said Ares. "You must decide what to do, Overlander."**

"A . . . dozen?" Lizzie gasped. "At least?"

**Gregor bit his lip. He couldn't decide. Everything was happening too fast. He needed more time. "Okay, okay," he said. He bounded over and lifted the baby into his arms. "We're taking it with us."**

"**We are?" Ares said, as if the thought had never crossed his mind.**

Mrs. Cormaci rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"**Yeah. Because I'm not going to kill it, and I'm not leaving it here for the other rats to use," said Gregor.**

Ripred nodded approvingly.

**Ares shook his head in a combination of exasperation and denial, but he offered his back.**

**Gregor grabbed his backpack in one hand, threw a leg over Ares, and settled the Bane in front of him. "Okay," he said. "Let's run like the river."**

"I suggest flying like the wind in this situation," Ripred smirked.

Gregor rolled his eyes, not even bothering to answer the gnawer.

**As Ares lifted into the air, a dozen rats galloped into the cone. They took in the dead bodies, the bat, the baby in Gregor's arms.**

"Oh, no," Lizzie breathed.

"**The Overlander has the Bane!" shouted one, and the whole pack went wild, howling, leaping into the air, slashing at the invaders with their claws.**

"**Hold on!" said Ares. Of the dozen tunnels that led out of the cone, about four were big enough for Ares to fly down. He dove for one, and they were off.**

**It was like the most horrifying theme park ride ever. Gregor hated those rides, but they were nothing compared to this spinning, jerking, flipping around in the dark, with only his flashlight beam, and insane live rats jumping out at him from every turn. Gregor clung to Ares with his legs and one hand while he kept the other arm wrapped around the baby.**

**At one point, when they were darting around a cave barely evading several sets of snapping teeth, Ares cried out, "Use your sword!"**

"Yes, Gregor!" Ripred snickered. "Use the sword you so foolishly broke!"

Gregor crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the rat.

"**I don't have it! It broke and I left it back in the cave!" said Gregor. He hated dumping this whole escape thing on Ares, but what could he do?**

**Ares twisted sideways and made it into a tunnel with the rats hot on his tail.**

**The baby rat had given up crying **_**"Ma-maa!"**_** and was now issuing a series if high-pitched alarm shrieks. "Eek! Eek! Eek!"**

"That can't be good," Lizzie frowned. No doubt, every rat in those tunnels would be able to hear the infant.

"**Make it stop, Overlander. Its voice carries great distances. Every rat in the maze can hear that the pup is threatened!" shouted Ares.**

**Gregor remembered how far Boots's cry carried - through doors, down hallways, you could even hear her on the elevator when you were coming up. It was like nature had designed her baby cry so it would travel. **

Boots giggled, emitting a soft, "Eek!"

**Must be the same with rats.**

**At first he tried to calm the Bane with his voice. It wasn't enough. It might have helped if they were sitting somewhere quietly on the ground, but it was useless here in this nightmare of motion. He tried stroking its back and head, but that didn't work, either. Gregor's human voice and touch and smell were just more scary unknown things to the rat. Finally he managed to get a hand into his backpack and pull out one of the candy bars. He ripped it open, broke off a piece, and stuck it into the baby's wailing mouth.**

**There was an "Eek!" of surprise, then a smacking sound, and the Bane was consumed by its first wonderful taste of chocolate.**

"**More!" It was so weird to hear the rat baby talking, but it was. "More!" it said again, just like Boots would have.**

"Oh, so it can talk!" Mrs. Cormaci's eyes widened. Up until then she'd still been unsure, as all the Bane had said was "Ma-maa" and "Eek!".

**Gregor popped another piece of chocolate into the little rat's mouth, and it was gobbled up. The Bane seemed to think better of him now that he had given it chocolate. It relaxed a little, back into his body, which made it easier to hold on to.**

"**You think we're almost out of here?" Gregor said as they swept out of a tunnel.**

"**See for yourself," said Ares.**

**Gregor shone his flashlight around the place they'd just entered. Lying on the floor were Goldshard, Snare, and the third rat.**

"That would happen to you, Gregor," Luxa groaned. (Most unladylike)

** "No! What are we doing back here?" he gasped.**

"**Perhaps you should try navigating!" said Ares. What with him insisting on taking the Bane, having no sword, and being pretty worthless in general at the moment, Gregor could tell the bat had lost patience with him.**

"**Okay, okay, I'm sorry," said Gregor.**

"**It is our scent, Overlander," said Ares. "They track us with such ease. I cannot lose them."**

"**Hey, I know!" said Gregor. "Maybe we can trick them!" He'd seen some movie once where a guy running from bloodhounds had fooled them. **

"Blood . . . hounds?" Luxa asked, quite obviously confused.

"Oh, they're just a type of dog." Gregor told her.

'_. . . Dog?_'

**"We need to confuse their noses." But with what?**

**Gregor ripped the bandage from his arm. It was soaked with blood and pus and ointment. **

"Oh, good thinking, Gregor!" Lizzie praised her older brother.

**"Fly around the cone, Ares! I need to touch the top of every tunnel."**

**Ares followed his instructions, if not his plan. "Why do we do this?"**

**Gregor held out the bandage and swiped it along the inside of every tunnel entrance as they passed it. "I'm just trying to spread our scent around."**

**They completed the full circle, hitting each tunnel opening. Gregor tossed the bandage up the last one.**

"**They come!" warned Ares.**

"**Get out! Get out now!" said Gregor.**

**Ares dipped into a tunnel they had not yet tried. After about thirty seconds, they could hear the rats reaching the cone. And they **_**were **_**confused. Different rats were calling for them to chase down different tunnels. A big argument broke out, and then the sound of fighting.**

Ripred smirked, amused at how easily his fellow gnawers fell to fighting among one another.**  
><strong>

**It grew softer as they moved away, until Gregor could no longer hear it at all.**

Grace sighed, calming a little.

**Ares zigzagged down a tunnel, and this one opened out over a nice, wide, shallow stream.**

"**I must stop for a moment . . . I must drink . . ." Ares landed on the edge of the stream, panting. He dunked his face in the water, gulping it down.**

**Gregor got down and scooped up handfuls of water for himself and the Bane. The stream was not too deep, but the current was fairly strong and he didn't want the baby being swept away.**

**Ares raised his wet face. "I have only just thought of something," said Ares. "This stream. Where do you suppose it goes?"**

"**I don't know. A bigger stream. Maybe a river eventually, or -" Gregor caught Ares's drift. On his very first night in Regalia, when he'd tried to escape, he'd followed the water out of the palace. It had led to a river that had led to the Waterway. "It's sure worth a try."**

**Gregor hauled the Bane onto Ares's back, and they took off again.**

**It was not too promising for a while. The main thing about the stream was that it was long and it had as many twists and turns as the tunnels in the maze. Gregor could feel Ares's wings slowing; he was going to have to have a real rest soon. But to stop in the maze was certain death. The rats would catch up to them. Gregor had no sword. The baby would begin to cry again, and then they would -**

"**A river," Ares puffed out. "A river is at hand."**

Grace sighed again, grateful that the bat had interrupted her son's thoughts.

**In another minute, they followed the stream out of the tunnel and into a huge cavern. A river ran through it. They were out of the maze!**

**Ares flew up high above the water. There were stony cliffs along the sides.**

"**Any rats around?" asked Gregor.**

"**Just the one on my back," said Ares.**

"**You want to pull over and take a break?" said Gregor.**

"**In a short while. I want to put more distance between the gnawers and us. They will be coming, Overlander. We have the Bane," said Ares.**

"**Yeah, I bet they hate that." said Gregor. He petted the Bane's head. It was getting used to him now. It curled up against him and gave a big yawn. "You've had a pretty big day, huh, little guy?" It didn't take long for it to fall asleep.**

"I almost feel bad for it," Lizzie whispered. "I mean, it's not his fault that he was born with white fur."

"No," Ripred acknowledged. "But it his fault for believing that his white fur entitled him to the entirety of the Underland."

**They flew awhile in silence. Then Ares spoke in an odd voice. "Overlander, I think I know this place. I think we both do."**

"**What?" said Gregor. How could he possibly know where they were?**

"**Shine your light down," said Ares.**

**Gregor obeyed. There below them was the river, very wide now, and very strong. Hanging down from the high banks on either side of it were the remnants of a broken bridge.**

"Oh," Luxa breathed, startled. Gregor had not told her of this.

"**Oh," said Gregor. And the memory of that day flashed before his eyes. Running across the bridge, trying to go back for Boots, Ripred carrying him by his backpack as the bridge swung dizzyingly below, being smacked to the ground by Ripred's tail while the rat and Luxa and Henry and Gox had hacked away at the ropes that held the bridge and the pack of rats catching up to the cockroaches and his baby sister and - and -**

**It was the place where Tick had died.**

Luxa took Gregor's hand in hers and squeezed it, comfortingly.

"**You're right," said Gregor. "How did we end up here, do you think?"**

"**The Tankard, the Labyrinth, and what remains of this bridge are all in the rats' domain," said Ares. "At least now we have some sense of where we are."**

**The bat coasted in and landed on the riverbank across from where the bridge had been hacked off. "It will be safer on this side. The rats would have great difficulty swimming the river, which is, as we know, filled with flesh-eating fish."**

**Gregor climbed off Ares's back holding the Bane, who was snoring softly. They were at the mouth of a tunnel. He ran his flashlight beam over the surrounding rocks, remembering how they'd been filled with waiting rats on their first visit. Now the rocks were empty. "Anything in the tunnel?" he asked Ares.**

**The bat shook his head. "Not as far as I can tell. I believe we are safe for the moment. Overlander, I must rest."**

**He could see Ares's weary eyes starting to shut. "You go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch," he said. "And, Ares? You were amazing back there."**

"**I was not bad," Ares agreed, and promptly fell asleep, his back to the tunnel wall.**

Lizzie giggled a bit, but soon stopped, recalling the situation her brother was in.

**Gregor trained his flashlight down the tunnel. If any intruders appeared, he would be ready. He sat cross-legged on the ground with the Bane on his lap. The baby stirred restlessly in its sleep, probably reliving the trauma of the last few hours. He patted its back to quiet it. The Bane's fur was stiff with its mother's dried blood.**

**The baby snuggled closer to him. It was so much like holding Boots. Boots. Why wasn't he crying about her? He had cried for a roach, in a cave just across the river there, but hadn't shed one tear for his sister. He remembered how Luxa had told him, in that same cave, that she hadn't cried since her parents died. It had been that bad. Maybe something like that was happening to Gregor.**

Luxa squeezed Gregor's hand again, and lay her head on his shoulder.

**His fingers traced the outline of one of the baby's soft ears.**

**So it turned out Sandwich had been right again. The rats had killed Boots, and he could not kill the Bane. Although, Gregor didn't think he could have killed the Bane even if Boots had survived. Or could he have? If he had thought that only one of them could live? He didn't know. But it didn't matter anymore.**

"**Now what?" he thought. "Now what?" He had to think clearly. He had to figure out what to do with the Bane.**

**He couldn't take it back to the rats' land. Goldshard had just lost her life trying to protect it from her fellow rats. If he showed up with it in Regalia, he bet the humans would decide to kill it. If they let it live, which seemed unlikely, the rats would definitely overrun the city trying to get it back. For a brief moment he wondered if he could take it back home with him, but he knew his mom wouldn't have any part in raising a ten-foot rat,**

"Not. At. All." Grace agreed, glad her son hadn't brought the thing home.

** especially when Boots had –**

**Okay, so what did that leave? Nothing, pretty much.**

**He looked out over the water.**

**This was such a sad place. Not just because of Tick, but because when he'd come through here on the first quest, he'd been in a party of ten, and of that ten, how many were still alive? He did the math in his head. Three. Only three. Tick had died here. Henry and Gox were lost when they rescued his father. Luxa, Aurora, Temp, and precious Boots drowned at the Tankard. The only ones left alive were he and Ares and Ripred.**

"That is a rather depressing thought." Luxa grimaced.

**Ripred. He was going to go crazy when he found out Gregor hadn't killed the Bane. He wanted the Bane dead. That's why he'd brought Twitchtip and tried to teach Gregor echolocation. But then Ripred hadn't known the Bane was a baby, either. Would that make any difference to the rat? Maybe, just maybe, it would.**

Gregor glanced up at the large gnawer, but Ripred ignored him and continued to read.

**Gregor felt a plan beginning to form in his head.**

**Ares awoke after about three hours, famished. He went down to the river and came back with a large fish, not one of the flesh-eating kind. The Bane awoke and wolfed down fish with the bat while Gregor scraped mold off a piece of cheese and finished the last of the bread.**

**While they ate, he bounced his plan off Ares. "Okay, I have an idea about what to do with the Bane."**

"**I am listening," said Ares.**

"**This tunnel, it leads back to Ripred's nest," said Gregor.**

"**Does it?" said Ares.**

"**Yeah, remember? Twitchtip said his nest was where we first met him. And we first met him at the other end of this tunnel," said Gregor.**

"**Oh, yes, after we had fought the spinners," said Ares.**

"**Right, so I say we go find Ripred and give him the Bane and let him deal with it," said Gregor. **

"Oh, absolutely! Ripred will love this idea!" Ripred snorted.

**Ares opened his mouth to object, but Gregor held up his hand. "Wait! Only tell me why we can't do it if you can come up with a better plan."**

**There was a very, very long pause. "I do not have a better plan, but this one has no possible good endings," said Ares.**

"**Probably not," said Gregor. "So, should we give it a try?"**

"You are so very reckless sometimes, Gregor." Mrs. Cormaci admonished, shaking her head as she took the book from Ripred and began to read.

* * *

><p><strong>[1] Okay, yes. I know that everyone in that room most likely already knew that. Just like (with thanks to<strong> _**Eulaliaaaa**_**) I knew that Gregor's dad and Mrs. Cormaci, at least, knew that he was a rager. I guess this story just has to be AU. We're kinda' pretending that Gregor never really told his family any of this, so the only people who'd know (in that room, that is) all this are Gregor, Luxa, and Ripred. I'm sorry if you don't agree with how that's turned out, it just sort of happened. It wasn't really planned.**

**[2] This will sound very weird and random, but as I wrote that, that 'Priceline, Negotiator' commercial song thingy played in my head. And now it's stuck in my head. Along with the line 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' from The Sound of Music. And only that line.**

**[3] I considered making this conversation longer, but thought that it may be too boring for y'all.**

**[4] I just _had _to make Ripred say 'Alas!'. Can't you just see him doing that to make fun of someone/thing? XD**

**[5] Which is soo much more painful than heart-breaking. XD**

**[6] Did I remember that right? Snare was the Bane's father, right?  
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**I'm so sorry. I don't want to bore you all with details but I have been very busy. I haven't really had the time, nor, much as I loathe to admit it, the motivation. Too many other new exciting things have come up that have caught my attention and held on fast. And I know that, since I haven't updated in a month, I shouldn't really be asking anything of y'all, but I would really appreciate it if y'all could review in descriptions of the personalities of Angelina and Larry, since they'll be joining the story soon and I want to keep them in character.**

**Random thingy (tell me if you agree)**

**Gregor = Katniss (for more than just the fact that they're the main characters)  
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**Ripred = Haymitch (coincidentally two of my fav character from both books)**

** Lizzie = Prim/Rue (they're all so alike)  
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**Luxa = Peeta/Gale (it seems as though she has the best qualities of both, and none of the bad)**

**Dad = Dad (both thought to be (or actually) dead)/Peeta (because they were both so messed up when they got home from the Underland and the Capitol, respectfully)**

**(tell me if you can think of any other similarities!)  
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